The Czech Catholic Bishops Conference are going back to the drawing board to propose new dates for a papal visit, after receiving a letter from the Vatican indicating that the Pope could not travel to the Czech Republic next September.

The Czech bishops had invited Pope Benedict XVI to visit the Czech Republic after a scheduled visit to Austria. However, the bishops reportedly received a letter from the Vatican recently indicating that the Pope cannot come on the originally proposed date, reported Czech News Agency.

The itinerary of the Pope's two-day Czech visit included a tour Brno and Prague and meeting with Czech President Vaclav Klaus.

The Czech bishops have said they want to propose another time for a possible papal visit.