The U.S. bishops' attempts to defend religious freedom and the traditional definition of marriage must be accompanied by stronger efforts to educate Catholics about the Church's real teaching about sexuality and marriage, several of the bishops said while at the Vatican.

"The Church doesn't say 'no' because she's trying to be authoritarian or she's trying to make life difficult for us.

She's saying 'no' because in her wisdom through all these ages, through these 2,000 years of experience, she knows what is best for us and how best to call us to Christ," said Archbishop John Nienstedt of St. Paul and Minneapolis.