The president of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops opened the group’s national meeting on Monday by announcing it will delay any votes on the issue that has been rocking the church for at least several months.

Cardinal Daniel DiNardo, of Galveston-Houston, said the delay was requested by the Holy See, which asked that the US bishops wait until after a Vatican-convened global meeting on sex abuse in February.

The bishops are meeting in Baltimore and had been expected to consider several steps to combat abuse, including a new code of conduct for themselves and the creation of a special commission to review complaints against the bishops.

In his address opening the bishops’ assembly, DiNardo told survivors of clergy abuse that he was “deeply sorry”.

Of course he is sorry. As usual. /s

The church, he said, should not revictimize survivors “by demanding they heal on our timeline”.

Well, then just don't do it.

DiNardo expressed disappointment at the delay on the vote but also told the US bishops: “I remain hopeful that this additional consultation will ultimately improve our response to the crisis we face.”

The delay in the voting drew some skeptical and critical reactions.

“We had this agenda, we were moving forward on these documents, this was our goal,” said Bishop Christopher Coyne, of the Vermont diocese of Burlington, and the communications chair for the three-day conference. “And now … it will look like we don’t have to come up with much.”

Coyne said he believed there were “no machinations” leading to the delay, but he had concerns about how it would be perceived outside the assembly hall.

“The Vatican just made a big mistake in asking US bishops to delay their votes on clergy abuse protocols,” tweeted John Gehring, the Catholic program director at Faith in Public Life, a Washington-based clergy network.

“The optics are terrible, and it sends a message, intended or not, that Rome doesn’t recognize the urgency of the moment.”

At their meeting, which continues through Wednesday, the bishops may proceed with discussions of these proposals, which were drafted in September by the bishops’ administrative committee. But there will be no immediate vote.

Cardinal Blase J Cupich, of Chicago, suggested that the bishops hold a special assembly in March to vote on the measures after considering the results of the global meeting in February.

Source.