The Pope Leaves Open the Debate on the Role of Women in the Church: Associations of Catholic Women and Voices of Important Cardinals Insist that the Possibility of Female Diaconate Is Not Excluded

Pope Francis at the end of a meeting with priests at Casa delle Suore Pie Discepole del Divin Maestro, Rome

 

Disappointment
The Pope leaves open the debate on the role of women in the Church

Associations of Catholic women and voices of important cardinals insist that the possibility of female diaconate is not excluded
Marina Garcia Dieguez

Rome . Updated:03/11/2024 - 05:00h

https://www.articulo14.es/autor/marinagd/

https://www.articulo14.es/internacional/el-papa-deja-abierto-el-debate-sobre-el-rol-de-la-mujer-en-la-iglesia-20241103.html


"The Synod of Bishops, the meeting of ecclesiastical hierarchies that has the challenge of deciding the future of the Church , has met again in October 2024, but the debate process will not be closed until spring of next year.

This call, which began in the autumn of 2023, was innovative from the very beginning. In an unusual way, the female vote was introduced and the debate on the role of women in Catholicism began to be addressed . But the complexity of this issue, which pits the feminist struggles of many ecclesiastical sectors of women against centuries of immobility, seems to be at a standstill . The final document has established that “there are no reasons that prevent women from assuming leadership roles in the Church ”, but the key will be to know what that phrase, still open, means.

Equality in the Church

In fact, during this month of October, the Argentine Pontiff explicitly asked the participants of the synodal journey, such as bishops, nuns, lay people and experts, not to focus on the issue of the female diaconate . The female diaconate is the greatest demand for equality within the Church and would mean that women could also access the step prior to a priest being ordained a priest and would allow, among many other tasks, to celebrate the word. Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernandez , prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, and one of Bergoglio 's most trusted people , spoke about this issue in a recent press conference. "We know that the Holy Father has expressed that, at this moment, the question of the female diaconate is not ripe and he has asked that we not dwell on this possibility now," he added.

Previous steps are missing

According to Cardinal Fernandez, the Pope 's interest is to work, however, "on the role of women in the Church " by asking his dicastery to explore the possibility of development without sacred ordination. "To rush to ask for the ordination of deaconesses is not today the most important response to promote women ," added this cardinal, because "it does not resolve the question of women in the Church" since he believes that previous steps are missing. Fernandez concluded his statements by asking for the help of women who are heads of a Catholic religious community and who hold positions of authority to work together .

These statements, which came out in October, fit perfectly with the imprecision of the final document of the Synod published in recent days , which calls for further discussion of the issue and postpones a broader decision until next spring. But this impasse increases the disappointment of some sectors of the Church , which had placed all their hopes in this synodal path. The atmosphere is one of controversy and discontent because, as has often happened in his papacy, Francis has reflected with this issue an acceleration and the subsequent sudden stop. For example, in 2016 he announced the creation of a Study Commission on the diaconate for women , renewed in 2020, and now he closes doors through the words of one of the most trusted cardinals. Many interpret that he himself has lit a fire that he now intends to put out.
Clarify the position

One of the most influential cardinals at the moment, the Archbishop of Kinshasa, Fridolin Ambongo Besungu , has placed his trust in this commission. He said that all the questions are being studied in depth “in order to clarify them”, according to the magazine ‘ Vida Nouvelle’ . But, at the same time, in a briefing held a few days ago in the context of the Synod, he said that “the Church in Africa and I, personally, are not opposed to the possibility of studying the female diaconate , of considering this opening to having women deacons”. Ambongo is part of the famous C9, the Council of the nine cardinals with the most power in the Church who advise the Pope.

Pope Francis during a visit to the women's prison in Venice

Her statement provides clarity on a key point in understanding where this debate is heading in the Church: numbers . At present, the number of believers in the Catholic Church is growing only in the so-called global south. The data show that, especially since 2022, the number of baptized people has been growing in Africa . There, many women nuns already do much more than their role requires, equalling or even surpassing the importance of a priest. These women are crucial to the religious and social development of some communities, and part of their demands focus on making it clear to Rome that they already take care of many aspects because there are not enough priests or because they simply attend to the needs of the parishes in which they are located.
“Daughter, wife and mother”

Over the years, the Pope has reiterated an idea of ​​women as representing the maternal side of the Church . He said in : “The Church needs this, because the Church is a woman: daughter, wife and mother, and who else but a woman can reveal her face?” But the great demand of women fighting from within is focused on a recognition that is not based on their role of care and accompaniment, but that also includes them in decision-making and administrative power, just like a priest has.


Pope Francis leads the weekly general audience in St. Peter's Square, Vatican City

In fact, just a few days ago a group of women belonging to the International Association of Roman Catholic Women Priests (ARCWP) decided, in a symbolic way, to be ordained as priests a few kilometres from the Vatican. The place is quite unusual, on a floating building on the Tiber converted into a kind of Church, where a “bishop” has ordained three Catholic “priestesses” and three “deaconesses”, according to the Vaticanist of the Italian daily ' Repubblica' Iacopo Scaramuzzi . A ceremony without canonical value, but which serves to provoke a debate that seems blocked at the moment by Pope Francis himself despite the steps taken in recent months.
What are your demands?

Kate McElwee is the executive director of the Women's Ordination Conference , which tries to unite the voices of women fighting for female ordination and equality within the Church. “Women, including the Church, have been silenced for generations. Our role is to make them feel welcomed so that they can raise their voices ,” she explains to Article 14. This is a debate that is still completely open, but the disappointment for this group of women is that the appointments of some to high ranks of the ecclesiastical hierarchy during this decade of Bergoglio's papacy are exceptions and that the Vatican itself has wanted to remove this issue from the discussions of the Synod , a fundamental place to decide the future of the Church. “I think that Francis is blocked on this issue and this saddens us,” she adds.


Pope Francis and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni

“They want to be human beings with full rights in the Church, just like men . We want baptism to become, truly, the proof of equality between men and women . Many, even if they do not wish to be ordained priests, understand that this is a debate that the Church has to face in order to regain its credibility,” adds McElwee. And, according to the numbers, to ensure its survival."