Mother’s Day is already difficult for women who long to be moms or have lost children in miscarriage, stillbirth or the death of a child after birth. And these women do not make up a small percentage of the women in the pews.

This week on “Inside the Vatican,” Gerry and I talk about three stories from Pope Francis’ trip to Bulgaria and North Macedonia.

Pope Francis said, “There were deaconesses at the beginning [of the church], but [the question is] was theirs a sacramental ordination or not?”

Bishop Franco Mulakkal, a native of Kerala, an enclave of Christians in predominantly Hindu India, is accused of attacking the nun nine times between 2014 and 2016.

In many corners of the church, women are not treated with equal dignity and worth. Too often, the structures of the Catholic Church show little openness to meaningful transformation. But our church’s lack of insight, and the breakdown of our own self-monitoring systems, are curable.

Oftentimes we find that the people on the other side of a hot-button issue are motivated by good reasoning and deeply held values. They are not the enemy.