The Vatican ordered the review last December, saying it wanted to study the quality of life of the 59,000 members in more than 400 Catholic women’s religious institutes amid a steep decline in their numbers.
But the sisters have publicly and privately questioned the true aims of the study and whether it was an investigation into whether they have strayed too far from church teaching.
Cardinal Franc Rode, head of the Vatican office in charge of the review, said Tuesday it was aimed to ensure a better future for U.S. sisters. But he also said the questions sisters were being asked about their lives will provide a "realistic and graced opportunity for personal and community introspection.”
"To date, I am encouraged by the efforts to identify the signs of hope, as well as concerns, within religious congregations in the United States, which are also likely to have implications elsewhere in the world,” he said in a statement.
He added that at least some of the data gathered during the review will be publicized. The sisters have denounced what they say is a lack of transparency in the process and their inability to dispute the findings before the final conclusions are made.
The Vatican study was ordered after four decades of declining numbers of U.S. sisters. In 1965, they numbered 173,865; by 2000 there were only 79,876, according to Georgetown University’s Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate. The average age of a member of a women’s religious community was between 65 and 70 in 1999.
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