Women in the Church

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.