They followed Church procedures by filing formal charges through ecclesiastical courts in Rome, but nothing was done.
"I accept in its entirety the commission's view that the primary responsibility for the failure to fully implement the church procedures in the diocese lay with me".
The auditors' report, released on Tuesday by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, is the result of an unprecedented decision by the bishops to hire outside auditors to go into each diocese and scrutinize church procedures.
One canon lawyer in Rome who has advised Vatican officials on the policy, but who spoke on condition he not be named, said yesterday that the revisions would simply force the American bishops to follow church procedures.
It was mainly a belated reaffirmation of longstanding church procedures that at least one bishop attending the meeting argued had been ignored for too long, according to church documents and interviews.
It was not possible to verify Father Yorio's account, and experts in church procedures questioned whether the order's rules would have allowed Father Bergoglio to expel a priest.
Church procedures for the appointment of a new archbishop of Canterbury require a body of clerics and laymen, led by a layman nominated by the British prime minister but including members of the Anglican Communion from outside Britain, to put two names forward to the prime minister, currently David Cameron, the leader of the Conservative Party.
The process, known as "laicization," is a formal church juridical procedure that requires Vatican approval, and can take far longer if the priest objects.
The Vatican's letter on Monday incorporated revisions made last year to the church's procedures on prosecuting sexual abuse, including extending the use of fast-track procedures against priests and doubling the statute of limitations for disciplinary action against priests to 10 years from the victim's 18th birthday.
The ceremony took place outside the church's procedures, in which bishops are elected within their own dioceses and confirmed by the church's prelates.
