U.S. Roman Catholic Church leaders are returning home from the Vatican armed with proposals that make it easier to dismiss priests who sexually abuse children, but fall short of a so-called "zero tolerance" policy. 

Pope John Paul II summoned the senior U.S. clergy for unprecedented talks this week to address the crisis, which has shaken the Catholic Church in the United States. He called sexual abuse both a crime and an appalling sin in the eyes of God. 

But in their final statement, the U.S. cardinals came up with a process for dismissing paedophile priests that depends on whether they are repeat offenders or not. A final decision on immediately defrocking first-time offenders under the proposed "zero tolerance" policy was put off until a June meeting. 

Abuse victims say the cardinals failed to take a clear, uncompromising position against child abuse. 

U.S. cardinals appear divided on the "zero tolerance" policy - with some convinced the pope meant a priest should be dismissed from active priesthood forever after a single instance of abusing a minor and others speaking of defrocking only for "notorious" offenders. Activists and media in several nations wracked by similar scandals hailed the Vatican summit as a landmark occasion and called for a worldwide crackdown on child abuse within the priesthood. A headline in Rome's La Stampa newspaper read "Dirty Linen Washed in Public." A rival paper, Corriere dell Sera credited "daily hammering" by the U.S. media for forcing the Vatican to react quickly and publicly to the scandal. Church leaders have been accused of moving pedophile priests from parish to parish in an attempt to cover up the scandal. 

Some information for this report provided by AP and AFP.

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