Advocates for women's ordination in the Catholic Church hosted a prayer vigil at one of Rome's historic basilicas on Oct. 3, on the eve of Pope Francis' opening of a major Vatican summit expected to consider whether women might serve as Catholic deacons or priests.
As participants entered the Vatican Aug. 29 for a closed-door meeting on the church's governance, women's ordination advocates gathered outside to protest — only to then be removed from the premises and later detained by authorities.
A review of more than a dozen synodal reports from U.S. dioceses participants appreciate the opportunity to be heard, even if they harbor misgivings about what the Synod on Synodality will ultimately accomplish.
Connections: While I doubt that immediate post-synod change is likely, the process signals the openness to talk about issues such as women's ordination that have previously been off the table.
Fr. Tony Flannery, an Irish Redemptorist, noted that the issues he had written that led to being sanctioned "are now being discussed widely and freely right around the Church, with no fear of sanctions."
Signs of the Times: This week, Catholic and Baptist leaders meet to deal with issues facing their churches. While the two Christian churches are very different from each other, they do face similar problems.
Pope Francis has strongly defended his record on naming women to positions of authority at the Vatican, saying in a new book that women do not need to be priests to serve as leaders in the global Catholic Church.
Book review: If the Catholic Church continues to ignore insights from Scripture, reason and experience in favor of tradition, Wijngaards argues, it perpetuates a cultural prejudice that has held back millions of women.
Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith is asking a popular Irish priest suspended from public ministry in 2012, primarily over his support for women's ordination, to sign four strict oaths of fidelity to Catholic teachings.
