VATICAN CITY—A few years ago, Pope Francis told the head of the main Vatican-backed Catholic women’s organization to be “brave” in pushing for change for women in the Catholic Church. Maria Lia Zervino took his advice and in 2021 wrote Francis a letter, then made it public, saying flat out that the Catholic Church owed
Southern African Catholic Bishops' Conference Communication Officer Sheila Pires poses for a portrait at The Vatican on Sept. 29, 2023. Pires has been invited to take part in the next synod of bishops starting Oct. 4. “I think the church has just come to a point of realization that the church belongs to all of us, to all the baptized,” she says. Of the 365 voting members, only 54 are women and organizers insist the aim is to reach a consensus, not tally votes like a parliament.
For Zervino, who worked alongside the former Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio when both held positions in the Argentine bishops’ conference, the gathering is a watershed moment for the church and quite possibly the most consequential thing Francis will have undertaken as pope. This three-week synod, which begins Wednesday, is putting them more or less on an equal playing field to debate agenda items including such hot-button issues as women, LGBTQ+ Catholics and priestly celibacy. It’s the culmination of an unprecedented two-year canvasing of rank-and-file Catholics about their hopes for the future of the institution.
This edition is historic because its theme is so broad—it’s essentially how to be a more inclusive and missionary church in the 21st century—and because Francis has allowed women and other laypeople to vote alongside bishops for the first time. Francis took a first step in responding to those demands in 2021 when he appointed French Sister Nathalie Becquart as undersecretary of the synod’s organizing secretariat, a job which by its office entitled her to a vote but which had previously only been held by a man.
Outside the synod hall, groups advocating for even more women’s representation in the church are hosting a series of events, prayer vigils and marches to have their voices heard.
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