Baltimore Archbishop William Lori a candidate for president as leaders of U.S. Catholic Church gather for annual assembly

When the nation’s Catholic bishops gathered for their annual general assembly in Baltimore two years ago, they faced a thorny, high-profile issue: U.S. voters had just elected as president Joe Biden, a practicing Catholic who also supports abortion rights. The expected clash between the conservative and progressive wings of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops over whether to censure Biden never broke into the open, as the clerics worked to hammer out a compromise statement that they finally released last year.This year’s assembly, which starts Monday at the Baltimore Marriott Waterfront Hotel, promises no such headline-grabbing fodder for debate. But it could serve as one more testing ground for the ongoing back-and-forth between the liberal and traditionalist factions of the highest-ranking body in the Catholic Church in the U.S.