Pope Francis’ reform process of the Catholic Church ends without more equality for women

VATICAN CITY – Pope Francis’s year-long trial is over to reform the Catholic Church concluded Saturday with recommendations that fell short of giving women more equality as hoped, but did reflect the pope’s goals for a church that at least listens more to its followers.

In a significant move, the Pope said he would not issue an educational document based on the recommendations, which called for women to be given all the opportunities already afforded by Church law, while addressing the controversial issue of allowing women to serve as deacons to be ordained leaves open.

As a result, it remains unclear what authority or impact the synod’s final recommendations will have, as the purpose of the exercise was to provide the pope with specific proposals for reform.

“In this time of war we must be witnesses of peace” and set an example of living with differences, the pope said, explaining his decision.

Francis said he would continue to listen to the council of bishops, adding: “This is not a classic way of indefinitely postponing decisions.”

Deacons perform many of the same functions as priests, such as presiding over baptisms, weddings and funerals, but they cannot celebrate Mass. Supporters say allowing women to be deacons would help make up for the shortage of priests. Opponents say this would mark the start of a slippery slope toward the ordination of women to the all-male priesthood, something Francis has repeatedly affirmed.

Earlier this week, the Vatican’s top doctrinal official, Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernandez, told the extraordinary assembly of 368 bishops and laity that Francis had said the moment is “not ripe” to allow the ordination of women as deacons. He did not respond directly to a request to define what would determine “maturity” for an expanded role for women.

The multi-year synod process had raised great hopes for change, especially among women, who have long complained of being treated as second-class citizens in the church. Women are excluded from the church’s top ministerial positions, yet they do the lion’s share of the work running Catholic hospitals and schools and passing on the faith to future generations.

In his address to the synod on Thursday, Fernandez explained that a special working group would continue beyond the close of the meeting, but that the focus would be on discussing the role of women in the church – not in the diaconate or the office of deacon. He added that while they worked with women in previous pastoral roles, “most did not ask or want the diaconate, which would be difficult for their lay work.”

The meeting called for “full implementation of all possibilities already offered in canon law regarding the role of women, especially in those places where they are still underexposed.” It leaves open “the question of women’s access to diaconal ministry.”

It was the most controversial paragraph of the final document, with 258 votes in favor and 97 against. It wasn’t clear whether the “no” votes were because the language went too far or not far enough.

The outcome is a disappointment for Catholics who have campaigned for recognition that women share a spiritual calling no different from that of men. They also noted that despite women’s participation in the synodal process, the working group leading discussions on the role of women is led by the Roman Curia, which operates outside the synod.

“I think the final document will be met with great disappointment and frustration by many women around the world who are hoping for concrete change,” said Kate McElwee, executive director of the Women’s Ordination Conference.

While she acknowledged a “cultural shift,” she said that “the pace of that shift may be too slow for many women.”

The first phase of the synod process ended last year by concluding that it was “urgent” to ensure fuller participation of women in church governance positions, and calling for continued theological and pastoral research into allowing women to serve as deacons.

While the idea of ​​allowing women to become deacons was a fringe proposal by Western progressives before the synod, the idea gained attention during the debate. It became something of a litmus test of how far the church would or would not go to meet women’s demands for greater equality and representation in the highest ranks of the church.

Francis had other ideas, insisting that ordaining women would only “clericalize” them and that there were plenty of other ways to empower women in the Church, even in leading Catholic communities, without resorting to to ordination.