US Catholic leaders will seek Vatican guidance next week on whether paedophile priests can stay in the ministry or if a one strike and you're out rule should be applied firmly, an official said today.
The American churchmen, trying to come to grips with a paedophilia scandal that has rocked their Church to its foundations, will also discuss when paedophile priests should be handed over to civilian authorities.
One reason they want to get this resolved is because they have never seen anything like this, said Monsignor Francis Maniscalco, spokesman for the U.S. Bishops' Conference.
The scandal has put some members of the US Roman Catholic hierarchy, particularly Boston Cardinal Bernard Law, under pressure for moving paedophile priests from parish to parish after psychological treatment instead of defrocking them.
"This crisis is calling into question not only the morality of the priests but the integrity of the hierarchy. That is not where we want to be, so the bishops want to deal with this," Monsignor Maniscalco told reporters at the Vatican.
Monsignor Maniscalco said the cardinals will examine the so-called one strike and you're out proposal or whether there is any situation where a paedophile priest can continue in his ministry, such as in a chaplaincy for an old-age home.
They will discuss whether this means that everyone with this background is out or whether there can be degrees of misconduct where someone can be declared safe after treatment.
"The extent of the return to ministry (of offenders) is a very, very hot question right now in the United States," Monsignor Maniscalco said.
All 13 American cardinals, including the three who work at the Vatican, have been asked to attend the meetings on Tuesday and Wednesday with top Vatican officials. It was still not clear if Pope John Paul would attend.