Austria's bishops call for better Vatican communication

Austria's diocesan bishops urged the Vatican to improve its inadequate communication skills, after holding an emergency meeting to discuss a crisis of confidence in the Catholic church.

Austrian Catholicism is in turmoil because Pope Benedict, one week after readmitting Holocaust denier Bishop Richard Williamson, named an auxiliary bishop in Linz who said Hurricane Katrina in 2005 was God punishing New Orleans for its sins.

"We hope inadequate channels of communication in the Vatican can be improved so the Pope's service to humanity is not impaired," Austria's bishops said in a statement after their day-long meeting.

The Williamson case and the appointment of Gerhard Maria Wagner in Linz sparked doubts about the Pope's leadership and concern the church was taking an increasingly conservative turn.

Both decisions were apparently taken without consultation with local churches.

Last week, 31 of the 39 deans (senior priests) in the Linz diocese passed a declaration of no confidence in Rev. Wagner, a rare event in the tightly governed Catholic Church.

Rev. Wagner withdrew on Sunday, and the Vatican accepted his decision, the Catholic news agency Kathpress reported.

Austria's bishops said it was essential for the Pope to have reliable and thorough briefings before appointing bishops.

Faced with rising numbers of Catholics quitting the church and protests from clergy, Vienna Cardinal Christoph Schoenborn called all diocesan bishops to Monday's meeting to "give our best to overcome the crisis." The bishops expressed solidarity with the Pope but linked the communication problems and lack of adherence to official nomination procedures to the disputed promotion of Rev. Wagner.