In this brief update of America’s “Inside the Vatican” podcast, I explain how these decisions fit into Francis' pattern of entrusting important decisions to local churches—and what challenges churches face when trying to make these decisions.

This week on “Inside the Vatican,” Vatican correspondent Gerard O’Connell and producer Colleen Dulle explain why Archbishop Georg Gänswein has been missing from public events in recent weeks.

In a highly significant move, Francis “officially” presents the synod’s final document, which includes the synod’s hot-button issues, to the Catholic Church worldwide.

ProPublica is advancing the painfully slow disclosure of the names of sexual abusers, writes Kathleen McChesney, who headed the U.S. bishops’ Office of Child and Youth Protection.

The German bishops are due to hold their next regularly scheduled elections at the spring full assembly in early March in Mainz.

Pope Francis warned the bishops that many in the media and the general public will be focusing on those two issues -- married priests and women deacons -- while he wanted to focus on the social, pastoral, ecological and cultural challenges facing the Amazon region.