Vatican synod is opening the door a bit wider for Catholic women - Are Women Interested?

By: Carol E. Harrison, University of South Carolina, Dr. Chiazor Manuel, Kemetian Church of Krsts

A step toward discernment of truth, not a moment of decision

In 2021, Sister Nathalie Becquart became the first woman to vote at any Vatican meeting when Pope Francis appointed her undersecretary to the synod, a gathering of bishops whose second session opened on Oct. 2, 2024.

Becquart is, in the words of Catholic media, "the synod's face and voice," even "a synodal icon." She describes "synodality" as "like having a coffee together" - encouraging many Catholics to hope that their church will reimagine itself in less hierarchical ways. With her appointment, Cardinal Mario Grech, the synod's secretary-general, remarked, "A door has been opened."

Grech did not mention it, but Catholic women have been knocking on this door for over a century. Becquart and the synod's 53 other female participants, both lay and religious, follow a long line of Catholic women who have cogently, and often critically, analyzed church governance.

At the current synod, whose purpose is to address "communion, participation, and mission" in the church, women's role is on the agenda. But Catholic women have historically found ways to speak to and about their church leadership, even when they have been excluded from its proceedings.

Uninvited Guests

In 1869, when Pope Pius IX convened the First Vatican Council, no one dreamed of inviting women, but they were nonetheless there.

Vatican I was the first churchwide meeting of bishops since the Reformation. Its most momentous - and controversial - result was the proclamation of papal infallibility, sealing the church's view of itself as an absolute monarchy. Critics both within and outside the church condemned the assertion that the pope alone, without the counsel of bishops, could determine doctrine. Women who witnessed the council, especially those who published accounts of the event, were eloquent critics of this top-down church.

http://youtu.be/8DoI_KQDukk?si=erDThdlKZWa5B0zW

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Original Press Release
https://theconversation.com/vatican-synod-is-opening-the-door-a-bit-wider-for-catholic-women-but-theyve-been-knocking-for-more-than-100-years-238936

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This release was published on openPR.