WASHINGTON: While the US priesthood is battered by controversies over paedophilia and cover-ups, the Vatican has disciplined the country's largest organisation of nuns, prompting fierce debate within the faith.

The Vatican found the nuns' organisation had ''radical feminist'' tendencies and had not taken a strong enough stance in support of Catholic doctrine against women's ordination, ministering to homosexuals, and abortion and contraception.

Pope Benedict XVI at the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra concert held for his 85th birthday on April 20. Credit:AFP

In a statement, the presidency of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious, which represents most of the US's 55,000 nuns, said it was ''stunned'' by the findings of the assessment, conducted by the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which Pope Benedict led before his election.

''We had received a letter from the CDF prefect in early March informing us that we would hear the results of the doctrinal assessment at our annual meeting; however, we were taken by surprise by the gravity of the mandate.