this article discusses the new vatican rules that maureen dowd was discussing in her piece:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/16/wo...16vatican.html
VATICAN CITY — The Vatican issued revisions to its internal laws on Thursday making it easier to discipline sex-abuser priests, but caused confusion by also stating that
ordaining women as priests was as grave an offense as pedophilia.
The new rules do not, for example, hold bishops accountable for abuse by priests on their watch,
nor do they require them to report sexual abuse to civil authorities — though less formal “guidelines” issued earlier this year encourage reporting if local law compels it.