The radio cited a letter sent to German bishops by the Vatican's Cardinal Josef Ratzinger, prefect of the congregation for doctrines of faith. The head of the German episcopacy Karl Lehmann, a bishop in the western city of Mainz, went Wednesday to Rome for secret talks on the controversial issue, the radio said.

At a two-day conference in Mainz in January, the German bishops had agreed to a papal request to stop issuing certificates from abortion centers that serve as proof that women received counselling - a legal requirement before an abortion can go ahead.

But the bishops stressed that the 260 counselling centres run by the Catholic Church would not change their practice until the end of the year.The church-run centres make up the minority of thetotal of 1,600 across the country.

In April, a working group set up by the bishops began studying the Church's stance on abortion.

Lehmann, who is chairing the working group, said an interim report would be published on the group's findings later in the year to coincide with a meeting of bishops in Fulda, eastern Germany. Abortion in Germany may be performed during the first 12 weeks of pregnancy if the woman has a certificate showing that she has visited a counselling centre.

The certificate is not itself an authorization to terminate a pregnancy, but is the necessary proof that a woman has first sought counselling. The Pope believes certification in effect aids abortions and wants to stop the German church from postponing a decision on the matter, according to Wednesday's radio report.