US Bishops to get extra year to prepare Ad Limina report

Until mid-2010, is the bottom-line. This delay caused by the Vatican's considerable backlog.

The Vatican's considerable backlog caused by several factors, including many new bishops:

According to the Vatican's official statistical yearbook, at the end of 1983 there were 2,285 diocesan bishops in the world and they had 651 coadjutor or auxiliary bishops.

By the end of 2006 -- the year covered in the most recent edition of the yearbook -- there were 2,705 diocesan bishops with 606 coadjutor or auxiliary bishops.

In essence, that means that in 1983 the pope would have had to meet an average of 457 diocesan bishops each year in order to see them all every five years. By 2006, the average number of meetings needed each year rose to 541. (CNS)

Here's a solution: let me meet with them first, and I'll screen out the baddies. ;-)