In many ways, the Vatican's actions against the LCWR encapsulated the kind of hard line that many expected Benedict — the Vatican's former doctrinal czar — to take when he was elected in 2005. "The current doctrinal and pastoral situation of the LCWR is grave and a matter of serious concern, also given the influence the LCWR exercises on religious congregations in other parts of the world," said the eight-page statement issued by the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which Benedict led for a quarter century before his election. The directive, which follows a two-year investigation by Rome, also comes as the Vatican appeared ready to welcome a controversial right-wing splinter group of Catholic traditionalists back into the fold, possibly by giving the group a special status so that they can continue to espouse their old-line rites and beliefs.

