The Catholic Church on Saturday acknowledged the lack of visibility of women in its government, leaving the question of their ordination unresolved, a disappointment for activists hoping to see the lines of this two-thousand-year-old institution change.
At the end of a month of debates in the Vatican, a world assembly of lay people and religious gathered under the authority of Pope Francis announced to leave “open” the question of the ordination of women as deacons, a function preceding that of the priestly diaconate , believing that the study “must continue.”
If “women and men have equal dignity as members of the people of God”, “women continue to encounter obstacles in obtaining greater recognition” of their role, we read in this final 51-page document, approved by the Pope.
“There is no reason or obstacle that can prevent women from exercising leadership roles in the Church”
Throughout the month of October, 368 people – religious, bishops and lay people, including women – from a hundred countries discussed behind closed doors during the General Assembly of the Synod on the future of the Church, one of the main projects of the Argentine pope .
“There is no reason or obstacle that can prevent women from exercising leadership roles in the Church,” acknowledges the document approved on Saturday, without specifying what these roles might be.
Since the first stage of this Assembly, in October 2023, the question of the place of women had raised many hopes of seeing the Catholic Church evolve, which unlike other faiths, only allows men to be ordained priests or deacons.
The associations, active mainly in Europe and North America, deplore the marginalization of women by a system considered patriarchal, despite their central role in parishes around the world.
But the issue has aroused strong reluctance, especially in a conservative fringe of the Church and in some regions, pushing the Pope to entrust the most delicate issues to 10 working groups which will give their conclusions in June 2025.
Among the 155 paragraphs of the document, adopted with a two-thirds majority, the one dedicated to women is also the one that encountered the most objections, with 97 votes against and 258 in favor.
“The decision on the diaconate is not mature,” warned Argentine Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández himself, a strong man in the doctrine of the Holy See, on Thursday.
On other topics, the document highlights a reorganization of the training of priests, a greater involvement of the laity also in the choice of bishops and greater independence for episcopal conferences.
No mention of welcoming LGBT+ believers
Since his election in 2013, the leader of some 1.4 billion Catholics has worked to decentralize church governance, which he wants to be less vertical, but faces fierce opposition. The need to intensify the fight against sexual violence by members of the clergy, through greater prevention, is also highlighted.
No mention, however, of welcoming LGBT+ believers, another theme initially anticipated before being evacuated from the debates: the text limits itself to recognizing that some Catholics “continue to feel the pain of feeling excluded or judged” because of their sexuality.
The Synod is a consultative body that delivers its conclusions to the Pope, who has the final say on possible doctrinal reforms. But in a rare occasion, the latter announced on Saturday that it would directly adopt the assembly’s proposals, giving them official status.
«I don’t intend to publish an “apostolic exhortation”, what we have approved is enough. In the document there are already very concrete indications that can serve as a guide for the mission of the Churches, in the different continents, in the different contexts”, Francis said at the end of the assembly on Saturday evening.
The result of a consultation of Catholics from all over the world since 2021, this 16th General Assembly of the Synod has stood out for its more horizontal functioning, with the first participation of lay people and around fifty women, a revolution for this institution created by Paul VI in 1965.
The Synod will conclude on Sunday morning with the mass presided over by Francis in St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome.
#Catholic #Church #leaves #question #ordination #women #unresolved