
Synod on Synodality: LGBT Issues, Female Diaconate Discussed in Emotional Second Week
There is a lot of talk about avoiding the media’s agenda for the Synod, and it is a legitimate concern... but is there a theological agenda on the Synod?
There is a lot of talk about avoiding the media’s agenda for the Synod, and it is a legitimate concern... but is there a theological agenda on the Synod?
Described as ‘profound and real,’ the speech characterized calls for women’s ordination as a form of clericalism and as a distraction from what Catholic women want and need.
Chief spokesman Paolo Ruffini told reporters last week that the drafters are assisted by collaborators called ‘sherpas’ and added that ‘it makes no sense to give their names.’
NEWS ANALYSIS: While there was worldwide agreement on the need for a greater role for women in Church decision-making, calls for the ordination of female deacons and priests generated less consensus.
Cardinal Mario Grech, the secretary general of the Synod of Bishops, said the non-bishop participants — among them priests, religious, deacons, and laypeople — ‘are witnesses of the memory of the process, of the itinerary, of the discernment that began two years ago.’
A Vatican source told CNA that the two women most likely appointed to the department of bishops are Sister Nicoletta Vittoria Spezzati and Sister Mary Melone.
Pope Francis’ cardinal advisers heard a testimony from a Franciscan sister from the Brazilian Amazon this week as the council continues to discuss the role of women in the Church.
U.S. Cardinal Sean O’Malley was among the group that took part in the Feb. 21-23 meeting, which also included discusson of synodality.
Earlier on Friday, members of the Synodal Assembly backed an appeal to relax the celibacy requirement for priests in the Latin Church, when they endorsed a text on 'the pledge of celibacy in priestly ministry.'
The Women’s Ordination Conference, founded in 1975, describes itself as “the oldest and largest organization working to ordain women as deacons, priests, and bishops.”
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