US nuns consider response to Vatican censure

ST. LOUIS — The largest group for American nuns is deciding how they should respond to a Vatican order to reform.

The Leadership Conference of Women Religious is expected to make an announcement Friday at the end of their national assembly in St. Louis.

The organization represents most of the 57,000 Roman Catholic nuns in the United States.

The Vatican orthodoxy watchdog issued a report in April saying the sisters had tolerated dissent from church teaching on the all-male priesthood, birth control and homosexuality. The Vatican also said the religious sisters had been nearly silent on other issues such as abortion. The nuns say the investigation was flawed.

The rebuke prompted an outpouring of support for the religious sisters. Vigils and protests have been held nationwide.