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Pope Francis has named Salesian Sister Alessandra Smerilli undersecretary for faith and development at the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development.

Pope Francis has named Sister Nuria Calduch-Benages, an Old Testament scholar and professor at Rome's Pontifical Gregorian University, to be secretary of the Pontifical Biblical Commission.

Father Jack Wall, Extension's president, said: "We are deeply honored to pay tribute to the nine School Sisters of Notre Dame who gave their lives to service in a way that will continue to help others, just as they would have wanted."

Comboni Sister Alicia Vacas Moro, a Spanish missionary sister and registered nurse, was one of 14 women to receive this year's International Women of Courage Award, an annual honor from the U.S. Department of State for women who have demonstrated leadership in their human rights work.

A more inclusive attitude and a cooperative approach that includes women are needed for the future of the church and society, said a number of Vatican officials.

Equal access to education is the only means by which women can get into and sustain leadership positions in society, said a Ghanaian nun and medical doctor.

The German bishops' conference elected a woman as general secretary during a virtual assembly that turned into a crisis meeting focused on the church's handling of sex abuse.

La hermana misionera Xaviere, Nathalie Becquart, no será la primera mujer subsecretaria de una oficina importante del Vaticano, pero si será la primera mujer con derecho a voto en una reunión del Sínodo de los Obispos.

Xaviere Missionary Sister Nathalie Becquart will not be the first woman undersecretary of a major Vatican office, but she will be the first woman with a right to vote at a meeting of the Synod of Bishops.

She is, however, one of the few women ever given such an assignment, and perhaps that’s the ultimate sign of seriousness about women’s empowerment Pope Francis could deliver – offering a woman not simply the same rank and privileges as the men in the system, but the same potential frustration and heartache too.

As a third grader at St. Bartholomew School in Long Beach, California, young Mary Campbell wondered why her teacher almost always chose her and a few others to answer questions in class, largely ignoring others.

One of the Catholic Church’s most prominent nuns has said the push for women’s priestly ordination in the Catholic Church points to a deeper question that needs to be asked and stressed the need to separate ordained ministry from decision-making.

Pope Francis appointed the first women to the commission in 2014 and renewed their appointments, including Dr. Mary Healy, a professor of Sacred Scripture at Sacred Heart Major Seminary in Detroit.

Monsignor Janusz Urbańczyk, Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), highlights the importance of dialogue and respect for international law as key elements in conflict resolution

Recognizing "the gifts of each baptized person" -- women and men -- Pope Francis ordered a change to canon law and liturgical norms so that women could be formally installed as lectors and acolytes.

Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett with six of her seven children at a White House reception with President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump, Sept. 26, 2020. (Credit: Andrea Hanks/White House.)

By the age of 18, Kim Zember was leading what she called a double life. She had a boyfriend, she would attend Mass with her family every Sunday - and then go meet the woman she was secretly seeing at the time for drinks by the pool.

The organization Walking With Purpose has adapted its signature face-to-face Bible study groups into a virtual study program "that has become a lifeline for women during this period of isolation," said the group's founder.

In fact, he said, "for the first time, a dicastery has involved a group of women by making them protagonists in developing cultural projects and approaches, and not simply to deal with women's issues."

If Judge Amy Coney Barrett is confirmed to the Supreme Court, she will be the first Notre Dame Law School graduate to sit on the bench of the nation's highest court and the only sitting justice with a law degree not from Harvard or Yale.