For more than 25 years, the U.S. Catholic Church has been dealing with the horror of widespread clergy sex crimes and cover-ups. Yet U.S. abuse survivors have never received official acknowledgment of their pain by any federal official.

The 54-year-old priest said in a May 9 letter to the university community that based on the results of this review, he would begin taking part outpatient therapy program for alcohol use and stress management.

This week on “Inside the Vatican,” host Colleen Dulle and veteran Vatican correspondent Gerard O’Connell examine how binding the Vatican's letter and the U.S. bishops’ agreements are, along with what decisions the bishops now face.

Even in the exceedingly unlikely event that every bishop miraculously agreed on how to approach the question of Communion and abortion, it still would not resolve the political question of abortion in favor of the Catholic position.

Cardinal Luis F. Ladaria, S.J., the prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, has sent a letter to Archbishop José H. Gomez that may lead to a reconsideration of the plan of some bishops to get the conference to approve a document regarding “the worthiness to receive Communion” of Catholic politicians.

Decisions about administering the Eucharist rest solely on the bishop giving the sacrament, said Cardinal Michael Czerny.