Pius instructed bishops to impose penalties on transgressors.

In the same year Felt was called as a traveling bishop of the LDS Church, with the assignment to instruct local bishops in various locations on the proper methods of processing and recording tithing and other donations.

The king reproached Bossuet for failing to warn him that his grandsons' tutor had such unorthodox opinions and instructed Bossuet and other bishops to respond to the Maximes des Saints.

Where Trent did introduce an important change was in instructing bishops to create seminaries for the training of clergy.

It instructs bishops on how to deal with allegations of child abuse against priests.

He said he had asked Vatican officials to instruct bishops around the world to issue statements locally to tell their faithful that the film is an artistic work, not a pure portrayal of gospel accounts.

A 1998 conference directive instructed bishops to admonish elected leaders who back abortion rights and to urge parishioners to vote for candidates opposed to abortion.

Moreover, Bishop Mugavero had not acted until some months after a Vatican document last October instructed bishops to withdraw support from homosexual groups that do not follow the teachings of the church.

In 2004, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, then-prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, instructed American bishops in a confidential memorandum that Communion must be denied to Catholic politicians who support legal abortion.