How others will see it. Conservative Catholics will surely disapprove of the movie. A nun getting pregnant, giving birth in her room, and killing the infant. Hardly representative of a typical nun's behavior.
Liberal Catholics might be curious as to how this mainstream movie depicts their religion. Likely, they will be disappointed, rather than angry. Bancroft's desire to smoke, her admission of recent doubts of God's existence, her role as midwife to Tilly's birth, are all dubious behavior for a woman in her position. She even curses.
Those not particularly religious may see Agnes of God as a murder mystery, albeit a major departure from formula. Sleuth Fonda is a psychiatrist, not a detective, and the criminal is an innocent, if not innocent.
Those who enjoy looking at pretty girls will be satisfied with lovely Meg Tilly's screen time, and possibly admire chain-smoking Jane Fonda, who is certainly hot for her (then) age.
How I felt about it. Can someone be guilty of a crime and yet be innocent? This is the major question of Agnes of God, along with the notion that deluded women can spontaneously bleed from their hands and be impregnated by the Holy Spirit.
Let's simply ignore the latter topic of discussion, and instead evaluate Meg Tilly's innocence. Legally, she's innocent, since she didn't realize what she did was murder. Spiritually, she's innocent, for the same reason. She has blocked out those aspects of reality she doesn't want to see. She's nuts.
Of course, she's best off at the convent, where she won't have to pay bills or react to the advances of men (or even women) who decide to sexually exploit her. Hamlet's exhortation "Get thee to a nunnery" certainly is applicable here.
None of this is any justice to the baby, whose brief, sad life is snuffed out. But it is a tragedy, not a crime.
The more relevant question is, is Agnes of God a good film, or morely an interesting one? I suggest the latter, if only because nearly two hours is spent unravelling a mystery, mostly in the form of verbal fencing between Fonda and Bancroft, only to come up with the same initial and obvious conclusion. The butler didn't do it. It was the mother.