In 2016, Pope Francis gathered a commission to study the history of women deacons in the church. For the first time, Phyllis Zagano and Bernard Pottier, S.J., two members of the commission, speak about their life-long research on this topic. This Conversation with America is hosted by Michael O'Loughlin, national correspondent for America.
The Catholic Journal Commonweal published an extensively reported piece dissecting a grand jury report released last summer, which alleges widespread sexual abuse by priests in Pennsylvania and a coverup of that abuse by bishops.
Now Peter Steinfels, a former religion reporter and columnist for the New York Times and a former editor in chief of Commonweal, has analyzed the more than 1,000 pages of the report and he believes the public has been misled. He discusses his findings in the Developing Story program above with America's national correspondent Michael O'Loughlin.