Despite calling a meeting exclusively to discuss and handle the sex abuse scandal in the US, the Vatican (explicitly, the Pope) instructed they not take any action
>In an abrupt change of plans, a US conference of Catholic bishops has delayed any votes on proposed new steps to address the clergy sex abuse crisis following an intervention from the Vatican.
>The president of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops opened the group’s national meeting on Monday by announcing it will delay any votes on the issue that has been rocking the church for at least several months.
>“The Vatican just made a big mistake in asking US bishops to delay their votes on clergy abuse protocols,” tweeted John Gehring, the Catholic program director at Faith in Public Life, a Washington-based clergy network.
>“The optics are terrible, and it sends a message, intended or not, that Rome doesn’t recognize the urgency of the moment.”
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/nov/12/us-catholic-bishops-conference-sex-abuse-vote-vatican-pope-francis-intervenes