Vatican ends investigation into American nuns

The Vatican has abruptly ended its oversight of the largest organisation of US Catholic nuns, signalling a shift in their treatment by Pope Francis.

The decision brings to an end a controversial episode that began in 2012, when the Holy See announced it was taking over the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR), whose members represent about 80 per cent of US nuns, after it claimed they had fallen under the sway of radical feminism.

The Vatican said on Thursday that it had accepted the final report on its overhaul of the LCWR and said the "implementation of the mandate had been accomplished".

At the time of the takeover in 2012, under the previous pontiff, Pope Benedict XVI, the church said it expected the overhaul to last five years after it accused the group of creating a "grave" doctrinal crisis.

Tensions between the nuns and church authorities in Rome and the US had been simmering for decades as the sisters took an increasingly independent and outspoken role in politics and social outreach.

They had upset conservatives by discussing issues ranging from ministry to gays and lesbians to the patriarchy of the church. Some nuns had made public calls for the church to relax its stance against contraception; others have worked to ordain women as priests.

The Vatican also complained that the nuns had focused most of their attention on social justice issues, such as poverty, and had not spent enough time promoting the church's view on divisive political questions such as abortion and gay marriage.

Sister Sharon Holland, president of the LCWR, said in a statement issued by the Vatican: "We are pleased at the completion of the mandate, which involved long and challenging exchanges of our understandings of and perspectives on critical matters of religious life and its practice."

Cardinal Gerhard Mueller, prefect of the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, said: "At the conclusion of this process, the Congregation is confident that LCWR has made clear its mission to support its member Institutes by fostering a vision of religious life that is centred on the person of Jesus Christ and is rooted in the tradition of the church."

The settlement comes amid questions about how far Pope Francis can pursue his reforming zeal since he took the helm in 2013. Despite signs during his early papacy that he might push for a shift in the church's attitude towards homosexuality, the Vatican is still dragging its heels over the approval of Laurent Stefanini, gay French diplomat, as France's ambassador to the Holy See.

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