Asked during an in-flight news conference Wednesday if legislators who legalized abortion in Mexico City should rightfully be considered excommunicated, Benedict said "Yes."

"The excommunication was not something arbitrary. It is part of the (canon law) code," the pope continued, seemingly siding with the Mexican bishops who said the politicians had excommunicated themselves.

But Benedict´s spokes- man, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, issued a statement later Wednesday saying Benedict did not intend to formally excommunicate anyone - a rare process under church law.

He added that politicians who vote in favor of abortion had excluded themselves from receiving Holy Communion.

On Thursday, the Vatican tried again to defuse the controversy.

A slightly edited transcript was issued that dropped the word "yes" in the pope´s response to the question that started it all. Several other changes made it seem a more general statement, rather than referring to the Mexican bishops.

Lombardi told reporters such edits are common. "Every time the pope speaks off-the-cuff the Secretariat of State reviews and cleans up his remarks," he said.