Catholic Bishops reconvene behind closed doors in Vatican

Bishops resumed closed-door meetings today on the state of the Catholic Church after the Vatican clamped down on releasing information because some prelates had expressed concern that details of their debates been made public.

Bishops continued hearing prepared speeches inside the Vatican’s synod hall early today, after meeting for the first time in small discussion groups yesterday that were expected to draft proposals for Pope Benedict XVI to consider after the conclusion of the Synod of Bishops.

The Vatican has arranged for daily briefings in five separate languages to give media summaries of the closed-door discussions. Journalists also receive extracts of the bishops’ prepared speeches. The briefings, however, provide information about the “free discussion” period – the hour at the end of each day when bishops can take the floor to discuss certain topics.

Several issues emerged during the first such briefing on Tuesday, including a request by the senior American at the Vatican, Archbishop William Levada, for the synod to discuss whether Catholic politicians who support abortion rights should be given Communion.