And the reaction from the offices of Pelosi,Kennedy and Kerry?
(sound of crickets)
Until the church is willing to use sanctions, their statements to unbelieving members are meaningless.
I think this is basically to build a solid foundation for the implementation of sanctions. Catholics, both those in the legislature and those outside of it (as well as a few bishops!), have been ignoring or fudging Church doctrine with impunity for the last 40 years, and I think it's going to take a lot of work to get them back. I suspect the next thing we will see is that some bishop with guts will actually do the right thing in the case of a "Catholic" pol, and this will give the others courage to follow. And now they have the unambiguous words of the Pope to support them.