Catholic bishops hailed the ruling and asserted in a statement, "The real winner is humanity."

The bishops also asserted unequivocally that "the Catholic community and Catholic institutions" should not give "awards, honors or platforms" to Catholics who "act in defiance of our fundamental moral principles."

One bishop asserted that Catholics who divorced and remarried could not receive the church's sacraments like communion and last rites.

In a major pastoral letter, the bishops also asserted that misery and frustration were rising in the country and that many Nicaraguans fear the nation's crisis will have no end.

Some bishops have asserted that communion should be withheld from Catholic elected officials who support abortion rights, but Mr. Kerry received it here without incident.

Catholics who pay into any insurance plan would be subsidizing abortion even if they did not use this benefit themselves, the bishops asserted.

The bishops assert that "top-down reform with rigid national rules cannot meet the needs of a population as diverse as poor families."

The bishops deplored the failure of German Catholics to act against Nazism, and asserted that they now bear a special responsibility to speak out against anti-Semitism.

Some bishops and psychiatrists have asserted that the prevailing psychology of the times suggested that people could be cured of such behavior through counseling.

A10 Seattle's second bishop is asserting his authority more publicly, a year after he was sent by the Vatican to support orthodox positions.