Pope Tightens Catholic Law

He may be on holiday, but Pope John Paul II was still busy and not just blessing his Sunday audience. CBS News Correspondent Allen Pizzey reports.

In less than a month, the pope has issued three apostolic letters - the second highest document in Catholic law. The latest one ordered bishops to be unanimous before issuing so-called "binding statements."

"He wants to establish his positions strongly enough to ensure that they last after him," said John Wilkins, editor of The Tablet.

A key issue is American attitudes toward homosexuality. The vatican calls it a sin, but a statement by American bishops last year urged parents to be compassionate towards homosexual children.

The new apostolic letter effectively ends such independent thinking. A second letter reasserted the obligation of Catholics to attend mass. He was, however, careful not to go so far as an American cardinal who condemned Little League baseball games on Sundays.

In his harshest censure of liberal thinking, the pope made changes to canon law aimed at smothering debate on contentious issues including women priests and euthanasia. He said no to both.

Roman Catholic theologians in the U.S. who have questioned Rome's authority on such matters now face a papal warning of "just punishment" for dissension.

The three apostolic letters are being seen as the clearest sign yet that at 78 years old, John Paul II may be slowing physically, but when it comes to putting his seal on the church's third millennium, he is moving fast and definitively.

Reported by Allen Pizzey