Pope Francis and his international Council of Cardinals continued their discussions about the role of women in the church, listening to women experts, including a professor who spoke about how culture impacts women’s roles and status.
The pope and the nine-member Council of Cardinals invited women, including an Anglican bishop, to make presentations at their meetings in December and in February as well.
The council met April 15-16 in the Domus Sanctae Marthae, the pope’s residence, the Vatican press office said.
On the first day, Sister Regina da Costa Pedro, a member of the Missionary Sisters of the Immaculate and director of the Pontifical Mission Societies of Brazil, shared « concrete stories and the thoughts of some Brazilian women, » the press office said.
Stella Morra, a professor of theology at Rome’s Pontifical Gregorian University, « examined the role cultures have in the recognition of the role of women in different parts of the world, » the press office said.
A priest and two women made presentations at the council’s December meeting and published their papers in Italian in a book with a foreword by Francis, « Smaschilizzare La Chiesa? » (« De-masculinize the Church?).
During the preparation for the synod on synodality and during its first assembly in October, the pope wrote in the foreword, « We realized that we have not listened enough to the voice of women in the church and that the church still has a lot to learn. »
« It is necessary to listen to each other to ‘de-masculinize’ the church because the church is a communion of men and women who share the same faith and the same baptismal dignity, » he wrote.
At the February meeting, the pope and cardinals heard from: Bishop Jo Bailey Wells, deputy secretary-general of the Anglican Communion; Salesian Sister Linda Pocher, a professor of Christology and Mariology at Rome’s Pontifical Faculty of Educational Sciences « Auxilium »; and Giuliva Di Berardino, a consecrated virgin and liturgist from the Diocese of Verona, Italy.
Bailey Wells said she was invited to « describe the Anglican journey in regard to the ordination of women, both in the Church of England and across the (Anglican) Communion. »
At the April meeting, the Vatican said, the second day began with a report about the ongoing Synod of Bishops on synodality by Cardinal Mario Grech, secretary-general of the Synod of Bishops, and Msgr. Piero Coda, secretary general of the International Theological Commission.
The meeting concluded « with reports from each cardinal on the social, political and ecclesial situation in his home region, » the press office said.
« Throughout the session there were references — and on several occasions prayer — dedicated to the scenarios of war and conflict being experienced in so many places around the world, particularly in the Middle East and in Ukraine, » the statement said.
« The cardinals — and with them the pope — expressed concern about what is taking place and their hope for an increase in efforts to identify paths of negotiation and peace, » it said.
The council will meet again in June.
The members of the council are: Cardinals Pietro Parolin, Vatican secretary of state; Seán P. O’Malley of Boston; Sérgio da Rocha of São Salvador da Bahia, Brazil; Oswald Gracias of Mumbai, India; Fernando Vérgez Alzaga, president of the commission governing Vatican City State; Jean-Claude Hollerich of Luxembourg; Gérald C. Lacroix of Québec; Juan José Omella Omella of Barcelona; and Fridolin Ambongo Besungu of Kinshasa, Congo. Bishop Marco Mellino serves as the council’s secretary.