...In ''all initiatives with pastoral aspects," the Franciscans ''will have to request and obtain the consent" of Assisi's bishop, who will in turn ''hear the opinion" of the Umbria regional bishops conference and the Italian conference, Benedict's decree declared. The future papal delegate will ''perpetuate, with his moral authority, the close bonds of communion" between the Vatican and the sacred places in memory of Saint Francis.... Benedict's decree is a benchmark in the evolution of his seven-month-old papacy, many church observers say. So far, his reign has been an exercise in the tightening of practice to match church doctrine as...