Vatican criticises US nuns for 'feminist themes incompatible with Catholic faith'

The Vatican orthodoxy watchdog today announced a full-scale overhaul of the largest umbrella group for nuns in the United States.

It has accused the group of taking positions that undermine teaching on the priesthood and homosexuality, while promoting "certain radical feminist themes incompatible with the Catholic faith".

An American archbishop was appointed to oversee reform of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious, which will include rewriting the group's statutes, reviewing all its plans and programmes - including approving speakers - and ensuring the organisation properly follows Catholic prayer and ritual.

The Leadership Conference, based in Silver Spring, Maryland, represents about 57,000 religious sisters and offers programmes ranging from leadership training for women's religious orders to advocacy on social justice issues.

Representatives of the Leadership Conference did not respond to requests for comment.

The report from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith said the organisation faced a "grave" doctrinal crisis, in which issues of "crucial importance" to the church, such as abortion and euthanasia, have been ignored.

Vatican officials also castigated the group for making some public statements that "disagree with or challenge positions taken by the bishops, who are the church's authentic teachers of faith and morals".

Church officials did not cite a specific example of those public statements, but said the reform would include a review of ties between the Leadership Conference and Network, a Catholic social justice lobby.

Network played a key role in supporting the Obama administration's health care overhaul despite the bishops' objections that the bill would provide government funding for abortion.

The Leadership Conference disagreed with the bishops' analysis of the law and also supported President Barack Obama's plan.

Sister Simone Campbell, executive director of Network, said in a phone interview that the timing of the report suggested a link between their health care stand and the Vatican crackdown.

The review began in 2009 and ran through to June 2010, a few months after the health care law was approved. The report does not cite Mr Obama or the bill.

"I can only infer that there was strong feeling about the health care position that we had taken," Sister Simone said. "Our position on health care was application of the one faith to a political document that we read differently than the bishops."

When the Vatican-ordered inquiry was initially announced, many religious sisters and their supporters said the investigation reflected church officials' misogyny and was an insult to religious sisters, who run hospitals, teach, and play other vital service roles in the church.

Conservative Catholics, however, have long complained that the majority of sisters in the US have grown too liberal and flout church teaching.