The month-long Vatican summit ended with calls for more leadership roles for women in the Catholic Church, but not the ordination of women as priests, as some progressives had hoped at the start of the process. The call was not made.
The synod is the end of four years of consultations aimed at gauging the opinions of all church-going Catholics around the world, and Pope Francis has led the conference, usually a synod of bishops, with voting rights. It was opened to some believers, including nearly 60 women among the 368 delegates.
All members of the meeting voted on each of the 151 proposals.
All proposals passed with the required two-thirds majority, but the proposal for women to take on more leadership roles in the male-dominated church received the most “no” votes. Ta.
Supporters of expanding the role of women in the church had hoped that the synod would require women to serve as deacons. Although the synod did not proceed with the move, the final document stated that there were “no reasons or obstacles preventing women from taking leadership roles within the Church.”
Currently, the Catholic Church allows only men to become deacons (ordained ministers who can officiate baptisms, weddings, and funerals, but who, unlike clergymen, can officiate masses).
Reformers also wanted concrete ways to better welcome homosexuals in the church, but the final document said they were “excluded or judged” because of their “marital status or identity.” There is no mention of the LGBT+ community, except for references to people who feel the same way. or sexuality.”
The Rev. James Martin, a prominent American Jesuit priest who served the LGBT community and was a member of the synod, said it was “not surprising” that the new document did not specifically mention LGBT groups. said.
While progressives may be disappointed, some conservatives were upset about the entire summit from the beginning.
It was a massive exercise, and although the 87-year-old pope called the final document a “gift” to the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics, many traditionalists believe the consultation is a personal project of the pontiff. They were against making the process public. I questioned the idea of supporting the opinions of the laity and evaluating the opinions of non-clergy.
But it is in line with Pope Francis’ view that it is grassroots Catholics, not just cardinals and bishops, who should play a bigger role in shaping the future of the church — traditionalists are tormenting the pope. Just one of the many reasons to be there.
For him and the supporters of this process, the mere fact that there was outreach and people with opposing views came together for discussion was a success and gives him hope that it can develop in the future. .
“We live in a very divided world, where there is more and more war and violence, and this polarization is impacting the life of the church,” said Summit’s Chief Spiritual Advisor. Father Timothy Radcliffe, a theologian from Oxford who served as a minister, said:
“I myself have built friendships here with people from all over the world, for example by getting to know African bishops who have very different views than mine on how we should welcome LGBT people, for example. “We often have friendships, but we build friendships that transcend these differences and lead us to new depths of our own faith,” the priest said. Timothy is scheduled to be named a cardinal in December.
However, it is unclear how these discussions will be taken up beyond the meeting in a practical sense.
And with so many compromises and avoidances of controversy, observers see little boldness in the proposal. So an initiative that was supposed to bring people together may have left many feeling just as on the fringes of the Catholic Church as before.
