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Pope Francis has decided to give women the right to vote in the next meeting of the bishops, a historic reform that shows the hope of giving women more responsibility-making decisions and other laypeople speak in the life of the Catholic Church.
Francis approved changes to the norms governing the Synod of Bishops, a Vatican body that brings the world’s bishops together for periodic meetings, after years of calls for women to have the right to vote.
The Vatican on Wednesday published the approved modifications, which emphasize a vision for the faithful to take on a greater role in church affairs that has long been left to clerics, bishops and cardinals.
Catholic women’s groups that have long criticized the Vatican for treating women as second-class citizens immediately hailed the move as historic in church history.
“This is a significant crack in the stained glass ceiling, and it’s the result of sustained advocacy, activism and witnessing” of a campaign by Catholic women’s groups demanding the right to vote, said Kate McElwee of the Women’s Ordination Conference, which supports the women. ordination.
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Since the Second Vatican Council, the 1960s meeting that modernized the church, the pope has summoned bishops from around the world to Rome for several weeks to debate specific topics. At the end of the meetings, the bishops choose certain proposals and put them to the Pope, who then produces a document taking the views into account.
Until now, only men could vote.
But in a new change, five religious brothers will join five priests as elected representatives for religious orders.
In addition, Francis has decided to appoint 70 non-bishop members of the synod and to ask half of them to be women. They will also have a vote.
The aim is also to include young people among these 70 non-bishop members, who will be proposed to the Pope by the regional bloc, with Francis making the final decision.
“This is an important change, not a revolution,” said Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich, the synod’s top committee.
More women in decision-making roles
The next meeting, scheduled for October 4-29, focuses on the very topic of making the church more reflective, and responsive to, lay people, a process known as “synodality” that Francis has championed for years.
The October meeting has been preceded by an unprecedented two-year canvassing of faithful lay Catholics about the vision for the church and how it can better respond to the needs of Catholics today.
So far only one woman is known to be a voting member of the October meeting, Sister Nathalie Becquart, a French nun who is a secretary in the office of the Vatican’s Synod of Bishops and will attend the meeting because of her position. When she was appointed to the position in 2021, she called Francis “courageous” for pushing the envelope on women’s participation.
At the end of next month, the seven regional blocs will propose 20 names of each non-bishop member to Francis, who will choose 10 names one at a time to bring the total to 70.
Cardinal Mario Grech, who is in charge of the synod, emphasized that with the change, about 21 percent of the representatives gathered at the October meeting will be non-bishops, with half of the group women.
Acknowledging disquiet within the hierarchy of Francis’ vision of inclusivity, he insisted that the synod would continue to have a majority of bishops calling for it.
Hollerich refused to say how the female members of the meeting will be known, because members have long been known as “synodal fathers.” Asked if she would be known as a “synodal mother,” she replied that women would decide.
Francis has upheld the Catholic Church’s ban on ordaining women as priests, but has done more than the pope in recent times to give women more say in decision-making roles in the church.
He has appointed several women to high-ranking positions in the Vatican, although no women lead the Vatican’s main offices or departments, known as dicasteries.
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