Meanwhile, most of the Mexican bishops were looking for a negotiated settlement.

During a 1990 visit, he scolded Mexican bishops for having left their flock "deplorably vulnerable" to proselytizing Protestant denominations.

In 1896 the Mexican bishops said of the painting that they "not only authorize Catholics to believe in it, but do not even permit them to contradict it."

In recent months a number of Mexican bishops have called publicly for a clear accounting and for the money to be shared with the country's poorest parishes.

A3 A Mexican bishop says he met secretly with drug traffickers.

But many Mexican bishops rallied behind him.

As president of the Extension Society, Kelley also represented the Mexican bishops during the Carranza Revolution.

The Pope lectured Mexican bishops that they had a duty to speak out on social and ethical issues even if it meant telling political leaders how to act.

On the eve of his departure, he warned a meeting of Mexican bishops of the risks "of certain theologies of liberation".

In 1999, a Mexican bishop, Carlos Talavera, traveled to Rome and personally handed Cardinal Ratzinger a letter outlining the charges against Father Maciel.