The Vatican’s mainly favourable report on the state of female religious orders in the United States suggests a significant change of tack under the influence of Pope Francis. The American Catholic Church has sometimes displayed itself as a house divided – between those working for social justice and to the service of the poor, and those making a conservative stand on such issues as gay marriage, abortion and contraception. Under Popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI, most of the bishops appointed were of the latter inclination. And they tended to regard those who did not comply with it as disloyal, disobedient or worse. They believed that included most of the 50,000 US women Religious.So when the Vatican announced two high-powered investigations into the life and work of female