A Vatican investigation of American nuns begun under the previous pope, prompting protests from outraged Catholics, ended in Rome on Tuesday with the release of a generally appreciative report that acknowledged the achievements and the challenges the nuns face given their dwindling ranks.

The relatively warm tone in the report, and at the Vatican news conference that released it, were a far cry from six years ago when the investigation was announced, creating fear, anger and mistrust among women in religious communities and convents across the United States.

“Sorry, folks. This is not a controversial document,” Mother M. Clare Millea, an American nun who directed the investigation, said at the news conference. Instead, she said, it was “a challenge for all of us.”

If anything, the report may help spur the process of including women in more decision-making roles in church life, some church observers said. According to the report, some nuns felt that bishops and priests did not welcome their opinions on “pastoral decisions which affect them or about which they have considerable experience and expertise.”