Church Head Pope Francis Advocates for Women Equality: Notable Yet Inadequate Actions in Religious Sphere

3-5 min. "Being a woman isn't some predetermined essence," chimes in an anonymous theologian. The esteemed director of Ecclesia, Fran Otero, echoes, "Everyone, man or woman, holds the same dignity." Bishop of San Sebastián, Fernando Prado, confirms that Pope Francis hasn't made a groundbreaking theological contribution on the role of women in the Church. Yet, it's an unresolved issue, according to José Manuel Vidal, the director of Religion Digital. On the flip side, Jesús Díaz Sariego, the Spanish Conference of Religious' president, believes that Francis has taken a monumental leap by granting women trust and responsibilities in the Church's leadership.

Everyone acknowledges that Pope Francis has taken significant, although questioned as insufficient by some, steps to make women visible within the institution and give them responsibilities earlier unimaginable. "It's acceptable to appoint both faithful men and women, consecrated ones, as stated by the president of the Spanish Association of Theologians, Montserrat Escribano," she tries to clarify. The latest appointments were nuns Raffaella Petrini as head of the Vatican State and Simona Brambilla as the Dicastery for Consecrated Life's head.

Modest Steps with Impact

In 2022, following the Apostolic Constitution Praedicate Evangelium, Francis enabled laypeople, including women, to direct a dicastery and become ministers of the Vatican, positions previously reserved for cardinals and archbishops. Although he has only appointed religious women when making these appointments, this discourse seems inconsistent with the Church's repeated assertions that "women play a significant role in the Church's mission, announcement of the Gospel in parishes, missions ad gentes, and religious life," as declared to our website.es by the director of the Secretariat of Communication Media of the Spanish bishops, Josetxo Vera.

The president of the ATE, Montserrat Escribano, reminisces about the beginning of Francis' pontificate and recalls him including women in the washing of the feet during the Holy Thursday liturgy. This small gesture was solidified in 2017, as he added a rubric in the Roman Missal stating that those participating in this rite are not required to be men or Catholics. Escribano emphasizes, "It may not appear substantial, but its value is immense because changing this liturgical norm requires another pope's direct intervention, and it will be challenging to revert this."

Neglecting Dialogue with Feminism

Revisiting the Church's social doctrine and its institutional history, it's striking that feminism is the only enlightened theory it has never dialogued with. The Church has engaged with various theories such as socialism, liberalism, anarchism, ecologism, and social movements of the '60s and '70s. However, "never, never has it dialogue with feminism," insists the anonymous theologian who wishes to preserve her identity.

Leon XIII aimed to modernize the Church, but he didn't converse with the suffragists. The Church conversed with anarchism, liberalism, and socialism... he wrote about the concept of freedom, about the political forms' contingency. He was completely open, as experts say. It's true that the Church has not dialogued with the first wave of feminism following the French Revolution, nor with the second led by the suffragists, nor with the third. Never, never,” the theologian emphasizes.

Finally, the theologian clarifies, "Feminism is a humanist and universalist movement, very little postmodern. I don't know why they haven't dialogued. The relevance of the feminist movement is undeniable."

The selected few

By CRISTINA SÁNCHEZ AGUILAR

One of the fundamental pillars of Francis's pontificate was his commitment from the beginning to normalize the presence of women in the Church, not as a quota intended to create a facelift within a society eager for gestures, but from genuine recognition of their abilities and the contributions they offer to the ecclesiastical structure and evangelization.

"Women have a management and thought capacity significantly different from ours, and I would even say, superior to ours, in another way. We also see it within the Vatican: when we put women in positions, things move forward immediately," he said in 2023, during a meeting with the editorial team of the magazine Donne Chiesa Mondo. Accompanied by steps that, despite their visibility, have meant a revolution, women getting to choose bishops, woman as prefect of a dicastery, women participating in the Synod face-to-face with cardinals, women leading institutions.

A long road ahead

This is merely the beginning of a lengthy journey that may not be devoid of challenges. One thing is what has occurred in the Holy See under the Pope's protection, but another is what will transpire in local Churches' daily lives. Many of these women appointed in the Vatican are religious or consecrated, a pattern that repeats in small structures when seeking women to join councils and significant positions in the ecclesiastical sphere. "The one who causes the least trouble," summarizes the director of the Catholic weekly Alfa y Omega, Cristina Sánchez Aguilar, highlighting the lingering paternalism and mistrust within institutions.

However, if the synodal impulse truly permeates, it will also be the hour of the laity. If women's capabilities are genuinely valued, as Francis has asked us repeatedly, there will be no need for an uproar over women in our ranks. Women who, as the pontiff has said countless times, support parishes, communities, families from below. "A lamp isn't meant to be hidden under a bushel," hoping that the light Francis has ignited will illuminate this increasingly obscure part of our Church more and more. Hopefully, the focus will not be limited to debates about women's ordination or the matter of deaconesses. There is still much to strengthen at the base.

*Director of Alfa y Omega

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