Alright, alright, Pope Francis reaffirms the Vatican’s crackdown on the American sisters

*Relief* That was close you guys with Pope Francis treating women like people, and we were all concerned. But don’t you worry; Francis is backing the short-sighted reactionary policies around social movements the Catholic Church has traditionally backed. Naturally, those liberal Catholics who were throwing praise Francis’ way will be replacing it with shade.

Tom Kington for the Los Angeles Times wrote about Francis’ reaffirming the doctrinal evaluation and criticism of US nuns made by Pope Benedict and the Holy See last year. The assessment accused the Leadership Conference of Women Religious, an organization that represents most female orders (80%) in the US, of promoting radical feminist agendas and themes (yes, please) and ignoring the Vatican’s stance on same-sex marriage and abortion.

Originally, the Vatican sent an archbishop to rewrite the Leadership Conference of Women Religious statutes and set up reeducation programs to get the nuns back in line, claiming the US orders are challenging the church’s teachings on women’s ordination and ministry to gays. This was denounced by Pat Farrell, the head of the organization, as an attempt to create “pain and scandal.” Protests and vigils were held outside churches, and a petition attacking the Vatican’s decision with 50,000 signatures.

On Monday, when Francis was reaffirming, officials from the conference met with Archbishop Gerhard Ludwig Mueller (head of the Vatican’s doctrinal watchdog, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith) and Archbishop J. Peter Sartain of Seattle, the Vatican’s envoy to the nuns.

Francis “reaffirmed the findings of the assessment ant the program of reform” suggested for the nuns. A short statement after the meeting, the conference said “the conversation was open and frank. We pray that these conversations may bear fruit for the good of the church.” Sartain, assisted by two US bishops, is still in talks with the conference and hasn’t imposed any changes.

Kenneth Briggs, an author of a book on the Vatican’s clash with the US nun, stated that Francis backing the Holy See is a “major blow” to any dialogue: “It seems like the Vatican has put a more appealing salesman in charge of the same old product.”

Francis has been wooing the faithful because of his informal style, off-the-cuff homilies and his attempts to reach out to the poor. But this isn’t going to last if he is circling the wagons on conservative views on social issues. Father James Martin, a US Jesuit priest who led a Twitter drive last year to defend the nuns says this isn’t a good sign: “Given the long history of the LCWR investigation, it’s not surprising that Pope Francis is asking the Congregation [for the Doctrine of the Faith] to continue its work. It would have been odd for him to halt things at this point, so early in his job. But given that he himself is a member of a religious order, I would imagine that the sisters will get a sympathetic hearing from him.”

Fr. Martin is being kind here. I don’t think for a second that the sisters are going to get sympathetic ear. I think we’re going to see how deep the misogyny runs in the Catholic Church. We’re all members of religious orders here, but yours don’t count because you’re women. We’ll see how this plays, but I’m not hopeful. Full disclosure, I’m personally invested because of my Aunt who at one point was cited by name in the Vatican’s investigation.