The "Osservatore Romano" said the declaration was made on the initiative of the bishops themselves and the Holy See had not been consulted either before or after.
An official of the Vatican declared that this did not mean that the Holy See would disavow the bishops but the statement was made to show that ihe Austrian bishops had complete authority to take decisions of this sort on their own initiative. One Reason why the statement was published in the "Osservatore Romano," he said, was that some German
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.