A decision on whether the Vatican's new guidelines requiring bishops to report sex abuse allegations to the police render the Maltese Church's response team obsolete will have to be taken "at a later stage", according to the Curia.

The rules published on Monday make it clear bishops are obliged to always report crimes to the appropriate civil authorities.

"These are decisions that need to be taken later by the Episcopal Conference and the Council of Religious Major Superiors who set up the response team in 1999," a spokesman for the Curia said.

The spokesman was asked whether the response team will cease to exist and whether the Church will stop making internal investigations on child abuse allegations.

According to retired Judge Victor Caruana Colombo, who heads the response team, the Vatican's decree spells the end of the team's remit.

"My interpretation of the rules means any complaint that reaches the Church will have to be passed on to the police. This means the work of the response team becomes obsolete because any investigation I perform is confidential under Canon Law and cannot be revealed," the judge said, adding he had not yet received any directions on the matter.

The work of the response team would continue as usual, he added, until a formal decision was taken by the Church.

The rules come in the wake of mounting international pressure on the Church to come clean on accusations that bishops in various countries did nothing or hid sexual abuse allegations against members of the clergy.

The controversy has overshadowed Pope Benedict XVI's visit to