Roman Catholic Bishops Scrap Gay-Friendly Proposal

Roman Catholic bishops have scrapped a controversial proposal to make their church more welcoming to homosexual people.

Their meeting in Rome ended without consensus on what the church should say about gays or whether to give communion to divorced and remarried Catholics.

The final document toned down the suggestion of acceptance of previous drafts. Rather than saying gays have gifts to offer the church, the revised policy refers to homosexuality as one of the problems Catholic families face.

Cardinal Timothy Dolan, archbishop of New York, discussed the meeting results in television news reports.

"Keep in mind that the church's major goal is not to change teaching, not to change what God has revealed, but for us to change, to conform ourselves to what God has told us about life, about meaning, about purpose, about eternity, about values. That's the church's job," Dolan said.