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Pope Francis greets a nun during a meeting with 850 superiors general on May 10, 2019, at the Vatican, who were in Rome for the plenary assembly of the International Union of Superiors General. (CNS photo/Vatican Media via Reuters)
FaithVatican Dispatch
Gerard O’Connell
“In regard to the diaconate we must see what was there at the beginning of revelation, if there was something, let it grow and it arrives, but if there was not, if the Lord didn’t want a sacramental ministry for women, it can’t go forward.”
FaithVatican Dispatch
Gerard O’Connell
Pope Francis today issued a wide-ranging decree, known as a "motu proprio" or executive decree, that lays down procedures and norms for reporting abuse in the church, aimed at the eradication of abuse in the church.
Pope Francis with reporters aboard his flight from Skopje, North Macedonia, to Rome on May 7, 2019. (CNS photo/Paul Haring) 
FaithVatican Dispatch
Gerard O’Connell
Pope Francis said, “There were deaconesses at the beginning [of the church], but [the question is] was theirs a sacramental ordination or not?”
Children hold a gift showing St. Teresa of Kolkata and Pope Francis before the pope's visit to the Mother Teresa Memorial in Skopje, North Macedonia, May 7, 2019. (CNS photo/Paul Haring)
FaithVatican Dispatch
Gerard O’Connell
He visited Mother Teresa’s memorial, saw relics of “the saint of the slums” and recited a prayer that he had personally composed. He praised God for the gift of her life and prayed for her intercession for North Macedonia.

FaithVatican Dispatch
Gerard O’Connell
Pope Francis is the first pope to visit North Macedonia, where Mother Teresa of Calcutta was born.
Pope Francis sits near young people as he attends a meeting for peace with Bulgarian representatives of various religious in Nezavisimost Square in Sofia, Bulgaria, May 6, 2019. (CNS photo/Paul Haring)
FaithVatican Dispatch
Gerard O’Connell
Like Saint Francis, the pope said, “each of us is called to follow in his footsteps by becoming a peacemaker, an ‘artisan’ of peace.”