Thousands of members of the Roman Catholic Church in the United States have met in Boston to discuss ways of making the church more democratic.
The meeting, organised by a Catholic lay group, Voice of the Faithful, comes in response to the scandal over child sexual abuse by priests revealed earlier this year.
The conference organisers say that bishops, accused of covering up the scandal, have too much power and some of it should be devolved to ordinary church members.
There are over two million Catholics in the Boston Archdiocese.
