After initially telegraphing optimism about President Obama's decision Friday to amend the religious exemption for mandatory birth-control and sterilization coverage, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has declared total opposition to any compromise on the issue.

The organization wrote that it will continue pushing for a complete end to the birth-control mandate "with no less vigor, no less sense of urgency" than before the Obama administration decided to let nonprofit church-affiliated employers such as hospitals and universities, and not just churches, technically opt out of the requirement.

"The only complete solution to this religious liberty problem is for the Department of Health and Human Services to rescind the mandate of these objectionable services," the conference said in a statement released late Friday.

Just hours before, Cardinal-designate Timothy Michael Dolan of New York, who heads the conference, said he saw "initial opportunities in preserving the principle of religious freedom" in Obama's action. He also called it "a first step in the right direction."

The bishops' broadside is evidence Obama's effort to limit the damage from this unusually complicated moral, legal, medical and financial issue isn't necessarily working.

An administration official not authorized to speak on the record expressed little surprise at the bishops' statement, which, if anything, represents a hardening of their position.

"We never anticipated that this announcement would win the endorsement of an organization that opposed health reform from the very beginning," the official said.

The dispute concerns the requirement under the Obama-sponsored 2010 health-care law that certain "preventive services" be included in all health-insurance plans, with no out-of-pocket charges to the person insured.

On Friday, Obama announced that nonprofit church-affiliated entities would be able to opt out in a particular way. They would not have to provide contraception in their health plans, but female employees wanting coverage could obtain it directly from the insurance companies. The arrangement would not add any cost to the employee's premium, the argument being that prevention of childbirth is cheaper than childbirth.

In their statement, however, the bishops say that among the groups needing "clear protection" from the contraception mandate are "religious and secular for-profit employers." That would sweep in a far larger variety of organizations.

Some Catholic organizations, however, appeared satisfied by Obama's action. The head of the Catholic Health Association of the United States, Sister Carol Keehan, said the "framework developed has responded to the issues we identified that needed to be fixed."