Rome
CNN
 — 

During the Francis papacy, the role of women in the church emerged as a pressing priority, with Catholics across the globe calling for change.

The Argentine pontiff listened, breaking some important glass ceilings in the Vatican when it came to appointing female leaders to senior positions. He chose to make gradual changes that, to the outside may have seemed like small steps, but were huge leaps to those on the inside.

The pope appointed the first woman leader of a department in the church’s central administration and the first female president of the office governing the Vatican City State. Francis also chose the first women to sit at the board level in the church’s central administration, including at the influential department for choosing bishops.

By 2023, 10 years into his pontificate, the percentage of women in the Vatican workforce had risen from 19.2 to 23.4%. More broadly, Francis gave women the power to vote for the first time at a major global gathering of bishops, known as a synod, and formally opened up non-ordained ministry roles as he sought to increase participation.

On Holy Thursday last year he broke with tradition by travelling to a female prison in Rome to wash the feet of 12 women prisoners. It was the first time a pontiff had only washed the feet of women in the annual ceremony that emphasizes humility.

But while the pope made some landmark reforms, many will be hoping that his successor moves further, and faster, and there was sometimes sharp criticism of his stance on the role of women in society.

Kim Daniels, the director of Georgetown University’s Initiative on Catholic Social Thought and Public Life and a Vatican adviser on communication, said the pope had “made significant strides towards greater inclusion of women in church decision-making” and that his reforms to broaden participation would be key to his legacy.

But “much more remains to be done,” she told CNN, and “increasing the presence of women in leadership roles is critical to effective reform and should be an urgent priority.”

The lack of opportunity for women in the church is likely to come into sharp focus during the forthcoming papal conclave: Only members of the all-male body which is the College of Cardinals will vote on who will become the next pope.

It highlights a wider concern that Catholics across the world have raised in recent years: That while women frequently make up a majority in the pews on Sunday, they are scarcely represented at the church’s decision-making levels. Although lay people are increasingly more involved in church administration, it is primarily bishops and priests who make final decisions.

The problem is exacerbated by the fact that women are on the front lines of the church’s work on the ground, with nuns providing healthcare and education in developing countries and plenty of women leading Catholic schools and universities.

On the question of female involvement in a conclave, some have argued that women could be made cardinals, given the role of a cardinal is primarily to advise a pope and elect his successor.

Sister Christine Schenk, an American nun, author and founder of international reform-focused group “FutureChurch,” said it was time to give a “deliberative voice” to women and lay people at “every level of the church,” adding that if the same model of electing a pope remains in place, “we need as many female cardinals as male cardinals at the conclave.”

A more realistic possibility in the short term is allowing women to once again become deacons, an ordained ministry distinct from the priesthood. Deacons can witness marriages, perform baptisms and preach during Mass. Those in favor point to evidence for female deacons in scripture and their presence in the early church right up until the Middle Ages.

Women deacons could also bolster the church’s presence in schools, hospitals and prisons, along with providing leaders for Catholic communities. Church leaders in the Amazon, where priests are in short supply, raised the question at a 2019 synod, calling on the pope to “promote and confer ministries for men and women in an equitable manner.” A 2024 synod concluding document, approved by the pope, said that the question of ordaining women as deacons should remain an “open” question.

To that end, several Vatican commissions were set up study the question of female deacons were established by Francis, although no findings were never made public.

Francis maintained the ban on women’s ordination as priests and deacons, something which disappointed those keen to see women in more visible church leadership roles, but insisted that decision-making and leadership doesn’t depend on whether someone is ordained. He repeatedly stated that the church is female and asked for theologians to help in trying to “de-masculinize” it.

Significantly, a live debate in the church about the role of women is being allowed to take place. Schenk described it as the most impactful shift during the Francis pontificate, ending the marginalization of “Catholics who wish to discuss full inclusion of women in every aspect of church ministry and decision-making.”

“The question Francis looked at is how to get more people involved in the work of the church, in as many ways and places as possible. That is why he appointed women to senior roles in the Vatican,” said Hofstra University Professor Phyllis Zagano, a member of the first commission on female deacons.

“On the question of women deacons, Francis was trying to deal with centuries of misogyny that misunderstood the role of women in the church and society. The synod process he started tried to get the church away from a male-only perspective and to look at women, rather than as a problem to be solved, but as able to be fully involved in the church’s work. Restoring women to the ordained diaconate reinforces the trajectory the church has been on.”

Despite the various ways Francis initiated reforms and made appointments, there is still a long way to go until women are given greater roles and responsibility in the church. The next pope is likely to find this topic right at the top of his in-tray.

“Previously the Vatican – indeed many, if not most, prelates – were leery of even using the words ‘women’ and ‘ministry’ in the same sentence,” said Schenk. “Now such issues are being openly discussed – something long overdue and a sign of newfound strength and maturity in a church that no longer fears discerning (and) discussing changes in how we walk together as the People of God.”

A version of this story appeared in CNN’s What Matters newsletter. To get it in your inbox, sign up for free here.

CNN
 — 

Russia’s war on Ukraine may be entering a pivotal moment.

President Donald Trump, who CNN reported Friday has been surprised and frustrated at the difficulty of achieving his promise of ending the war, wants Ukraine to give up territory in exchange for peace and essentially cede control of Crimea, the peninsula Russia first invaded in 2014.

Russia controls nearly 20% of Ukraine, much of which could be lost under the current US proposal.

The US is considering recognizing Crimea as part of Russia, even though its seizure was against international law.

All Russian President Vladimir Putin has to do, in Trump’s thinking, is stop fighting, leaving Putin richly rewarded for invading Ukraine if he is able to officially keep so much territory. If Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky won’t budge, the US has threatened to withdraw support for Ukraine.

Trump’s top emissary, Steve Witkoff, met in person with Putin Friday in Moscow.

Ukrainians have been in talks with Americans and Europeans in London, pursuing their version of a plan, in which a ceasefire would come before any discussion of ceding territory.

Trump and Zelensky will both be at the Pope’s funeral in Rome over the weekend.

Whether there will be a breakthrough for peace, the entire two-tracked process blows up, or inertia sets in and the war continues could become clear in the coming days.

Meanwhile, hostilities continue. A Russian general was killed in a car bomb near Moscow Friday. Russian strikes are still targeting Ukraine’s cities, despite Trump’s admonition to Putin on social media, “Vladimir STOP.”

Trump thinks so.

“Crimea will stay with Russia,” he told Time on April 22. “And Zelensky understands that, and everybody understands that it’s been with them for a long time,” Trump said.

Russia first invaded Crimea in 2014 but despite moral outrage and sanctions, it did not face other consequences like it did later when it tried to invade the rest of Ukraine in 2022. Trump’s proposal for a cease fire seems to start with the idea that Crimea will be controlled by Russia.

Zelensky has publicly rejected the idea of ceding Crimea.

But other key Ukrainians seem to be open to the idea. Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko, a former champion boxer, told the BBC he is not involved in negotiations but that giving up Crimea might be necessary.

“It’s not fair. But for the peace, temporary peace, maybe it can be a solution, temporary,” Klitschko said.

Washington Post columnist David Ignatius argues that if the two sides can get past the Crimea issue, other details could be worked out, including whether European troops will backstop Ukraine’s security, and whether the US will have a presence, perhaps securing and running a nuclear power plant.

CNN’s Nick Paton Walsh isn’t so sure, in large part because it’s not at all clear what Trump wants from Putin and whether Putin will give anything up. He writes:

The overriding problem is Putin thinks time is on his side and Trump has repeatedly said the clock is ticking. These two contrasting positions will not yield a lasting deal. The Kremlin has perhaps wisely ascertained it can, over months, hive off tiny concessions from the White House, and slowly build a geopolitical picture that is more in its favour. Consider the first 90 days of Trump’s presidency and how far the world has already changed in Moscow’s favour.

Russia violated international law by invading Crimea, as CNN’s Ivana Kottosová writes. Zelensky has so far rejected the idea of ceding Crimea, noting that to do so would violate Ukraine’s Constitution.

If the US were to recognize Crimea as Russian, it would break America’s word multiple times over.

From Kottosová’s report:

Recognizing Crimea as part of Russia would put the Trump administration in breach of the 1994 Budapest Memorandum, in which the US made a commitment to respect Ukraine’s sovereignty and borders, in exchange for Kyiv giving up its nuclear weapons.

In 2018, during the first Trump administration, then-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo issued a statement reaffirming the US’ refusal to recognize the Kremlin’s claims of sovereignty over Crimea.

“That means that he has basically upended the international order,” retired Col. Cedric Leighton, a CNN military analyst, said on CNN Friday. “In essence, what he’s done is created a situation where we go back to the 19th century, where might makes right, and that is what he wants,” Leighton said, comparing Putin’s actions to the invasion by Nazi Germany of Czechoslovakia in the 1930s.

Ukrainians feel Crimea has been part of their country since the fall of the Soviet Union. In the decade-plus since Russia seized it Putin has worked to “Russify” Crimea. There are also resource considerations since Crimea and other contested portions of Ukraine are rich in oil, natural gas and other resources. Finally, Crimea sits on the Black Sea and offers important strategic advantages to Russia.

What if Zelensky won’t budge and the US, as it has threatened, walks away?

“What ‘walk away’ means is still a question that no one has really clear insight to,” according to Andrea Kendall-Taylor, a senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security and former US Deputy National Intelligence Officer for Russia and Eurasia.

“Does it just mean that the United States will no longer be engaged in the diplomatic process in trying to end the war? Or does it mean that the United States will actually pack up and go home entirely, including ending any remaining military aid?” she told CNN’s Bianna Golodryga on CNN Max.

Ukraine does rely on US support, particularly for air defenses and for intelligence. But it has also built up its own resources and leans on Europe.

“Ukrainians will not stop fighting if the United States packs up its bags and walks away,” Kendall-Taylor said.

It’s Ukrainian drones that are causing most of the casualties on Russian soldiers at this point, she said. Ukrainians are also producing longer-range drones that can strike within Russia, which means Ukraine may prefer to play for time to “convince Putin that he can’t stay in this conflict indefinitely.”

“Not a lot,” according to Kendall-Taylor. “And that’s exactly why we’ve seen such intransigence on his part in making any progress towards the war.”

“It’s really in his interest to continue with the foot dragging, to try to demonstrate that they (Russia) are playing along so that they can preserve the US-Russia relationship,” she said.

“(Putin’s) preferred outcome would be to preserve that relationship and get the United States to abandon Ukraine,” she said.

Michael Kimmage, a former State Department specialist on Russia and Ukraine who now directs the Kennan Institute at the Wilson Center told me that it already seems unlikely the US Congress will approve more spending to help Ukraine and that Europe, particularly Germany, is moving to step into that void.

“This is profound,” he said of Germany’s pivot to prioritize security in its spending.

“In a way, Trump is radicalizing German foreign policy, and there’s a need to go as fast as possible in the direction of independence (from the US), he said.

“If Germany is going to spend a trillion dollars on defense in the next couple of years, a lot of that is going to go to go to Ukraine, or it’s going to be a backstop to supporting Ukraine.”

But that’s a pivot that will take time.

“It’s not as if the Germany can fill in on the in the short term for the United States, but it can balance out the erratic and basically anti-Ukraine nature of the Trump presidency,” he said.

CNN
 — 

Russian authorities say they have detained a man described as a “Ukrainian special services agent” in connection with a car explosion that killed Russian General Yaroslav Moskalik on Friday.

The suspect allegedly purchased the car that exploded in Balashikha, less than 20 miles east of Moscow, according to TASS citing Russia’s Federal Security Service. The suspect’s nationality is unclear; according to the FSB, he has a residence permit in Ukraine.

The FSB also accused him of planting an explosive device in the car, but said that it was detonated from Ukraine. Video published by TASS on Saturday appeared to show charred electronics and parts of the car. Russia’s Investigative Committee had previously said the blast was caused by an improvised explosive device packed with shrapnel.

Russian General Moskalik was deputy head of the Main Operations Directorate of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces. The influential Russian military blog Rybar said Moskalik was not in the Volkswagen car when it exploded but was close to it after walking out of a nearby building. CNN cannot independently verify this report.

Photos released by Russian authorities appear to show the suspect driving a dark green Volkswagen with license plates that match those purportedly found at the site of the blast.

TASS video also showed the man being put into a van, and included footage of him apparently in custody describing his alleged recruitment by Ukraine’s special services. It’s unclear if he was under duress during the confession.

No one has claimed responsibility for the explosion. CNN has reached out to Ukraine’s foreign ministry for comment on the suspect’s alleged links to Ukraine.

Moskalik was killed on the same day US special envoy Steve Witkoff met with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin to discuss efforts to end Russia’s war on Ukraine.

After the three-hour meeting, US President Donald Trump initially voiced optimism that both sides were “very close to a deal.”

But the next day, Trump questioned whether Putin wants a peace deal shortly after meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the Vatican for Pope Francis’ funeral.

In a Truth Social post sent as he returned from Rome after the meeting, Trump raised the prospect of applying new sanctions on Russia after its assault on Kyiv last week.

“There was no reason for Putin to be shooting missiles into civilian areas, cities and towns, over the last few days,” Trump wrote. “It makes me think that maybe he doesn’t want to stop the war, he’s just tapping me along, and has to be dealt with differently, through ‘Banking’ or ‘Secondary Sanctions?’ Too many people are dying!!!”

This is a developing story and will be updated.