“David Gibson, a Religion News Service correspondent, said the crackdown shows that concerns about poverty and economic inequality are taking a backseat in the church. ‘There’s so much riding on the gay marriage battle, and on abortion rights, and on contraception that [bishops] want everybody in the church to be doubling down on those issues and not being distracted by social justice,’ Gibson told msnbc.com.

“Bishops have been playing defense for years in the wake of the church’s sexual abuse crisis, and Gibson said they’ve been looking for issues on which they can reassert their moral authority.”

via U.S. News – US priests reportedly behind Vatican crackdown on nuns.