Three years after a few outspoken U.S. Roman Catholic bishops tied together presidential politics, abortion and the Communion rail, leaders of the nation's largest denomination are starting to speak out again.

Only this time, the political climate is much different.

The Catholic presidential hopeful under criticism for championing abortion rights is a Republican instead of a Democrat, the general election might pit two candidates who believe abortion should remain legal, Democrats control both chambers of Congress and immigration reform has surfaced as a major issue.

As most of the nation's 268 active Catholic bishops met for a private retreat this week in New Mexico, questions were building about how prominent their voices will be in the 2008 race.

Will some follow the example of Bishop Thomas Tobin of Providence, R.I., who last month called the pro-abortion rights position of Catholic GOP candidate Rudy Giuliani, "pathetic and confusing"? Will abortion dominate the bishops' statements on the election, or will immigration and poverty?

Denver Archbishop Charles Chaput said in an interview with The Associated Press that official Catholic involvement depends on which candidates and issues emerge from the primary season. A vocal proponent of calling on Catholic politicians and voters to follow church teachings, Chaput also made it clear he thinks the time for behind-the-scenes diplomacy with politicians is over.

"I personally think that anybody that is pro-choice as a Catholic is not being faithful
to the church. People should take that into consideration when they vote," Chaput said before leaving for the retreat. "I didn't name names last time, and I'm not going to name names this time. But I think if you study people's history and their records, you know the people."

PRESSURE TO TAKE A STAND

In 2004, scrutiny fell on Democrat John Kerry, a Catholic who supports abortion rights. Archbishop Raymond Burke of St. Louis did name names, saying he would deny Communion to Kerry.

Some bishops, Chaput said, felt pressured to take a stand after Burke's comments and proposed that no one speak out on important issues without consulting the bishops as a group.

"I think a lot of folks just don't want the pressure to explain themselves," Chaput said.

Chaput said his more aggressive posture grew partly out of frustration from his personal meetings with politicians, who often would just "look at you vacantly."

"If a horse is dead, get on a different horse," Chaput said. "I think being more aggressive, more assertive doesn't in any way violate the principles we have to follow" under laws governing nonprofit involvement in politics.

The most effective approach, Chaput argues, is educating Catholic voters, which in turn could influence politicians. However, if bishops conclude the major-party nominees in 2008 are "indifferent to the important issues ... if everybody is taking the same negative position, perhaps there will be no motivation to talk about it at all," he said.

Given that scenario, Archbishop John Myers of Newark, N.J., said in an interview, "The principal involved is to try to figure out which of the candidates comes closest to the full gamut of Catholic teaching, in particular when you talk about the life issues — which candidate is closer, if one is."

SUPPORT FROM POPE

John Allen Jr., a senior correspondent for the independent National Catholic Reporter, said U.S. bishops who want to withhold Communion from Catholic politicians can find support in Pope Benedict XVI's comments — made to reporters en route to Brazil this year — that essentially endorsed the idea that Mexican legislators who voted to legalize abortion have separated themselves from the church.

"If you are an American bishop who is inclined to move in that direction, you're going to feel like the pope has got your back," Allen said.

Yet abortion also could share the spotlight with immigration. U.S. bishops have called for "comprehensive reform" to remind people the church is not a one-issue faction," he said.

Tobin's criticism of Giuliani came in a May 31 "open letter" published in the Providence diocesan newspaper, responding to an invitation Tobin received to a Giuliani fundraiser. Giuliani has said he is personally opposed to abortion, but does not want to impose his view on others. Tobin likened Giuliani's stance to that of Pontius Pilate, saying Pilate "personally found no guilt in Jesus," but handed him over to be crucified anyway.

More recently, 18 Catholic Democrats in the U.S. House caught the attention of a bishop who, like Tobin, is not widely known. The Democrats condemned Pope Benedict's recent statements about the Mexican politicians, writing that "religious sanction in the political arena directly conflicts with our fundamental beliefs about the role and responsibility of democratic representatives in a pluralistic America."

CIVIL RIGHTS ISSUES

Bishop Arthur J. Serratelli of Paterson, N.J., responded in his diocesan newspaper this month that the letter's authors are "arrogant to insist that the church does not have the right to her own teaching."

"I think there is a dynamic in the (bishops) conference towards wanting to put down serious markers on what the bishops themselves have declared to be the premiere civil rights issues of our time," said George Weigel, a Pope John Paul II biographer and a senior fellow of the Ethics and Public Policy Center in Washington.

Still other Catholics would like to see a range of issues highlighted by U.S. bishops in 2008. Alexia Kelley, executive director of Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good, cited statements leading up to the recent Group of Eight summit in Germany, including Pope Benedict's call to eliminate "extreme poverty."

"Abortion globally happens in the context of extreme poverty, as well," Kelley said. "You need to address both in order to respect human dignity."

One guidepost will come at the next U.S. bishops' conference meeting in November, when a statement on faithful citizenship, a sort of voter guide, is up for revision.

Chaput, for one, said while all issues in the statement are important, he doesn't think the conference does a good enough job of identifying abortion as a "foundational" issue. He said the statement has been "used by Democrats who want to downplay the issue of abortion because of their party politics."

Chaput added he doesn't like either political party. To him, neither encapsulates the range of Catholic teaching.