Latest news with #KateMcElwee
Yahoo
09-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Some women in the Catholic Church push for change amid Pope Leo XIV's election
As cardinals selected American Cardinal Robert Prevost to become the 267th pontiff -- Pope Leo XIV -- on Thursday, one major group was excluded from the decision-making process: women. "Ordained priests will meet behind closed doors to make a consequential decision about the future of the church during the conclave," Kate McElwee, director of the Women's Ordination Conference, told ABC News. "Every woman from the parish worker to the Dicastery leader has to eventually answer to an ordained man." Tune into "The American Pope: Leo XIV," a special edition of "20/20," on Friday night at 9 p.m. ET/8 p.m. CT on ABC, and streaming later on Hulu and Disney+ McElwee, whose organization has spent 50 years advocating for women to become priests, deacons and bishops, described the conclave as "a textbook old boys club that the Vatican has long upheld." "As a church, we have to really reckon with: do we worship patriarchy or do we worship the life and works of Jesus Christ?" McElwee asked. The Vatican didn't immediately respond to ABC News' request for comment. MORE: Pope Leo XIV live updates While Leo XIV's predecessor Pope Francis made historic strides in appointing women to leadership roles -- including Sister Raffaella Petrini as executive of Vatican State, the highest-ranking position ever held by a woman in the Catholic Church -- McElwee said these changes didn't go far enough. "He started to change a culture. There are more opportunities for men and women to be in collaboration with each other," McElwee said. "And I think that's the start. You know, it's an incomplete project." The Catholic Church maintains that only men can be ordained as priests, viewing this not as a cultural tradition but as unchangeable divine law. In 1994, Pope John Paul II declared this position as official doctrine, writing that "the Church has no authority whatsoever to confer priestly ordination on women." MORE: Pope Leo XIV: How his views compare to those of Pope Francis However, women played crucial roles in Catholic history since the church's beginning. Walking through Rome, churches named after female saints tell stories of unwavering faith. "Women have always been strong pillars, custodians of faith," Alessandra Morelli, who spent 30 years working with refugees for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), told ABC News. In a 2023 interview with Vatican Media, Leo XIV highlighted his experience with having women in church leadership, particularly discussing the three women appointed to help select bishops -- a reform he oversaw under Francis."Their opinion introduces another perspective and becomes an important contribution to the process," he told Vatican Media, emphasizing that their roles represent "real, genuine, and meaningful participation." When asked if she would want to become ordained as a deacon or priest, Morelli responds with a firm "Absolutely." Drawing from her experience mediating in conflict zones, Morelli believes women bring unique qualities to leadership. "Power is out of the game," she said. "We listen with a much more non-judgmental attitude. We open spaces, we generate spaces and we know how to manage the unknown." Some women in the Catholic Church push for change amid Pope Leo XIV's election originally appeared on
France 24
07-05-2025
- Politics
- France 24
Habemus protestatio: Pink smoke over Rome denounces male-dominated Church
Cardinal electors are yet to cast their first ballots in the papal conclave – and yet they've already been beaten to the smoke race. Just hours before the "princes" of the Catholic Church gathered in the Sistine Chapel to elect a new pope, members of the Women's Ordination Conference lit pink smoke flares on a nearby hill in protest at rampant gender inequality in the Church. "While the world may be waiting for white or black smoke, our pink smoke is a signal that women should be included in every aspect of the life of the Church," said Kate McElwee, executive cirector of Women's Ordination Conference. "A woman's place is in the conclave," she added. The women said they had been arrested in the past when they brought their protests closer to St. Peter's Square, so they held their pink smoke event on the Ganicolo Hill behind the Vatican instead, with the cupola of St. Peter's Basilica visible in the distance. "The exclusion of women from the conclave, and from ordained ministry, is a sin and a scandal," McElwee said in an earlier statement. "A group of ordained men meeting behind closed doors to make a consequential decision about the future of the church is textbook 'old boy's club'." The protesters carried a list of potential female candidates for pope, which included former Irish President Mary McAleese. In an interview with FRANCE 24 earlier on Wednesday, McAleese warned that the Church would be in "even graver trouble than it is now" if cardinals elected a conservative pontiff, rolling back on tentative progress under Pope Francis. 10:44 "They've been kicking so many cans down the road (...), in particular the issue of women and gender equality," said the former Irish president, a doctor of Canon Law, warning that without the late pontiff's efforts the Church would have been "overwhelmed by a tsunami of discontent". She added: "We need a man of courage, real courage, who can lead the Church to the egalitarianism, the equality that many of us believe Christ promised and stands for but the Church does not."
Yahoo
06-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Women in the Catholic Church: Which way will the next pope go?
Yahoo is using AI to generate takeaways from this article. This means the info may not always match what's in the article. Reporting mistakes helps us improve the experience. Yahoo is using AI to generate takeaways from this article. This means the info may not always match what's in the article. Reporting mistakes helps us improve the experience. Yahoo is using AI to generate takeaways from this article. This means the info may not always match what's in the article. Reporting mistakes helps us improve the experience. Generate Key Takeaways Rome, Italy – When Pope Francis was elected in 2013, he faced loud calls to expand the role of women within the Roman Catholic Church. To some extent, he delivered. Francis opened key meetings to women; allowed them to senior roles within the powerful central bureaucracy of the Church; and appointed the first female head of the Vatican governorate. For some, these were giant strides for a deeply conservative institution. But to many others, Francis's moves fell short of what was needed to make the Church truly inclusive. Now, as cardinals hold daily meetings before beginning the process of voting following his death on April 21, the role of women in the Church remains a divisive issue. When the cardinals finally emerge from their cocoon in the Vatican, will they have picked a pope who will build on Francis's changes — or someone who might roll them back? 'Women are not holding their breath,' said Kate McElwee, the executive director of Women's Ordination Conference, a nonprofit focused on women's rights within Church institutions. 'There is some anxiety on whether the next papacy will see some backsliding on the progress because there is a real desire for the project of [women's] inclusion to continue.' The incomplete project Francis's legacy, when it comes to women in the Church, is still up for debate. He gave women the power to vote on issues related to the Church at the Synod of Bishops. He also appointed a dozen women to high-ranking positions, including Barbara Jatta as the director of the Vatican Museums, Sister Raffaella Petrini as the president of the powerful Vatican City State, and Sister Simona Brambilla as the first female prefect of a Vatican office overseeing religious orders for both men and women. Overall, throughout Pope Francis's papacy, the presence of women in the Church's workforce rose from about 19 percent to 23.4 percent, according to Vatican figures. But to some, these were just cosmetic changes. The pope did not move forward on the polarising issue of women's ordination, particularly as deacons or priests. In the Catholic Church, the role of a deacon involves certain religious functions, such as assisting during mass and performing baptism, but does not allow carrying out most sacraments. Pope Francis set up two commissions – the first in 2016 and the second in 2020 – to consider whether women could serve as deacons by studying if that was the case in the early centuries of the Church. The report produced by the first group was never released to the public as the commission was not able to agree on the issue, according to Francis, while the second never concluded its work. In 2024, during an interview with US broadcaster CBS, Pope Francis gave a flat 'no' to the ordination of women deacons. But a few months later, he signed off on the final document of a synod, saying the issue should remain an 'open' question. 'It feels like he unlocked the door but didn't fully open it,' McElwee said. And as for women becoming priests, Pope John Paul II in 1994 issued a ban that has since been repeatedly reaffirmed. Cardinals attend the Holy Mass on Divine Mercy, on the second day of mourning for Pope Francis, on April 27, 2025, in Vatican City, Vatican [] All-men's club That underrepresentation is in stark display these days as members of an all-male body are discussing the fate of the Church. At pre-conclave meetings in Rome, cardinals are discussing what they believe are the core issues and priorities that a future pope should be able to tackle – from the Church's sexual and financial scandals and the global crisis of faith to the ties with China and the importance of canon law. Most of the cardinals who will vote for the new pontiff inside the Sistine Chapel this week have been appointed by Pope Francis and are aligned with many aspects of his agenda, such as social justice, migration and climate change. Yet, observers say they have not spelled out their positions on women in the Church clearly. In 2023, Cardinal Anders Arborelius, the bishop of Stockholm, Sweden, said it was 'important to see that there are other ways' for women to serve the Church 'than ordained ministry'. And in a speech at a pre-conclave meeting this week, Beniamino Stella, an Italian cardinal seen as close to the late pope, surprised fellow clergymen by accusing Francis of having created 'chaos' in the Church by opening the governance of Vatican offices to men and women who were not part of the clergy. Sister Marie, a nun who arrived in the Vatican from Marseille, France, awaiting the election of the new pope, agreed. 'Everybody has their role and we are happy to stay at our place, which is not within the hierarchy of the Church,' she said, asking her surname to be withheld. 'It [women as deacons or priests] would denaturalise the institution of the Church and the process of transmitting the faith,' she said. There is also the conservative guard that was outraged by Francis's decision to appoint nonclerical people to top positions. In an interview with the Italian newspaper Repubblica last week, Cardinal Gerhard Ludwig Muller from Germany, a leading conservative, noted how the Roman Curia – the administrative body of the Roman Catholic Church – is an ecclesiastical body that should not be managed by lay people, likely a criticism of Sister Brambilla's appointment last year. Cardinals walk in a procession to the Sistine Chapel at the Vatican at the beginning of the conclave, April 18, 2005 [Osservatore Romano/AP Photo] A reality already there Still, the Church cannot afford to ignore the subject of women and their role any more, suggested Sabina Pavone, a professor of history of Christianity at the University of Naples L'Orientale and member of the Italian Society of Historians. 'There is an awareness that this topic needs to be addressed because it continues to be considered one of the hot topics, but how to address it – that is not clear yet,' Pavone said. The issue of women's inclusion in the Church is increasingly also a practical matter central to the very functioning of Catholic institutions, she pointed out. Women already run the show in many areas of the world, from managing parishes, supporting local healthcare systems and teaching, while fewer men are entering the priesthood in most places. 'The Church has already changed,' Pavone said. 'And the Church has to keep pace with this reality.'
Al Jazeera
06-05-2025
- Politics
- Al Jazeera
Women in the Catholic Church: Which way will the next pope go?
Rome, Italy – When Pope Francis was elected in 2013, he faced loud calls to expand the role of women within the Roman Catholic Church. To some extent, he delivered. Francis opened key meetings to women; allowed them to senior roles within the powerful central bureaucracy of the Church; and appointed the first female head of the Vatican governorate. For some, these were giant strides for a deeply conservative institution. But to many others, Francis's moves fell short of what was needed to make the Church truly inclusive. Now, as cardinals hold daily meetings before beginning the process of voting following his death on April 21, the role of women in the Church remains a divisive issue. When the cardinals finally emerge from their cocoon in the Vatican, will they have picked a pope who will build on Francis's changes — or someone who might roll them back? 'Women are not holding their breath,' said Kate McElwee, the executive director of Women's Ordination Conference, a nonprofit focused on women's rights within Church institutions. 'There is some anxiety on whether the next papacy will see some backsliding on the progress because there is a real desire for the project of [women's] inclusion to continue.' Francis's legacy, when it comes to women in the Church, is still up for debate. He gave women the power to vote on issues related to the Church at the Synod of Bishops. He also appointed a dozen women to high-ranking positions, including Barbara Jatta as the director of the Vatican Museums, Sister Raffaella Petrini as the president of the powerful Vatican City State, and Sister Simona Brambilla as the first female prefect of a Vatican office overseeing religious orders for both men and women. Overall, throughout Pope Francis's papacy, the presence of women in the Church's workforce rose from about 19 percent to 23.4 percent, according to Vatican figures. But to some, these were just cosmetic changes. The pope did not move forward on the polarising issue of women's ordination, particularly as deacons or priests. In the Catholic Church, the role of a deacon involves certain religious functions, such as assisting during mass and performing baptism, but does not allow carrying out most sacraments. Pope Francis set up two commissions – the first in 2016 and the second in 2020 – to consider whether women could serve as deacons by studying if that was the case in the early centuries of the Church. The report produced by the first group was never released to the public as the commission was not able to agree on the issue, according to Francis, while the second never concluded its work. In 2024, during an interview with US broadcaster CBS, Pope Francis gave a flat 'no' to the ordination of women deacons. But a few months later, he signed off on the final document of a synod, saying the issue should remain an 'open' question. 'It feels like he unlocked the door but didn't fully open it,' McElwee said. And as for women becoming priests, Pope John Paul II in 1994 issued a ban that has since been repeatedly reaffirmed. That underrepresentation is in stark display these days as members of an all-male body are discussing the fate of the Church. At pre-conclave meetings in Rome, cardinals are discussing what they believe are the core issues and priorities that a future pope should be able to tackle – from the Church's sexual and financial scandals and the global crisis of faith to the ties with China and the importance of canon law. Most of the cardinals who will vote for the new pontiff inside the Sistine Chapel this week have been appointed by Pope Francis and are aligned with many aspects of his agenda, such as social justice, migration and climate change. Yet, observers say they have not spelled out their positions on women in the Church clearly. In 2023, Cardinal Anders Arborelius, the bishop of Stockholm, Sweden, said it was 'important to see that there are other ways' for women to serve the Church 'than ordained ministry'. And in a speech at a pre-conclave meeting this week, Beniamino Stella, an Italian cardinal seen as close to the late pope, surprised fellow clergymen by accusing Francis of having created 'chaos' in the Church by opening the governance of Vatican offices to men and women who were not part of the clergy. Sister Marie, a nun who arrived in the Vatican from Marseille, France, awaiting the election of the new pope, agreed. 'Everybody has their role and we are happy to stay at our place, which is not within the hierarchy of the Church,' she said, asking her surname to be withheld. 'It [women as deacons or priests] would denaturalise the institution of the Church and the process of transmitting the faith,' she said. There is also the conservative guard that was outraged by Francis's decision to appoint nonclerical people to top positions. In an interview with the Italian newspaper Repubblica last week, Cardinal Gerhard Ludwig Muller from Germany, a leading conservative, noted how the Roman Curia – the administrative body of the Roman Catholic Church – is an ecclesiastical body that should not be managed by lay people, likely a criticism of Sister Brambilla's appointment last year. Still, the Church cannot afford to ignore the subject of women and their role any more, suggested Sabina Pavone, a professor of history of Christianity at the University of Naples L'Orientale and member of the Italian Society of Historians. 'There is an awareness that this topic needs to be addressed because it continues to be considered one of the hot topics, but how to address it – that is not clear yet,' Pavone said. The issue of women's inclusion in the Church is increasingly also a practical matter central to the very functioning of Catholic institutions, she pointed out. Women already run the show in many areas of the world, from managing parishes, supporting local healthcare systems and teaching, while fewer men are entering the priesthood in most places. 'The Church has already changed,' Pavone said. 'And the Church has to keep pace with this reality.'
Channel 4
23-04-2025
- General
- Channel 4
Debate: Was Pope Francis a reformer or did he not go far enough?
We spoke to Father Sergio Tapia from the Catholic Institution Opus Dei, and Kate McElwee, the executive director of the Women's Ordination Conference, a movement that calls gender equity in the Roman Catholic Church.
