In the teeth of liberal opposition, Pope Francis says he wants to give women more high-level positions within the Holy See. According to Reuters, the Pontiff will name women to a previously all-male committee which helps him select Catholic bishops. A new constitution for the Holy See’s administration – which came into effect in June – now allows any baptised Catholic to head most Vatican departments. In a sign of changing times, last year Sister Raffaella Petrini was appointed Secretary General of the Pontifical Commission for Vatican City State, the second highest ranking position.

In addition to Sister Raffaella Petrini, in 2021 Pope Francis appointed Sister Alessandra Smerilli as Undersecretary for the Faith and Development Sector of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development of the Roman Curia. She became, as interim, the first woman secretary of the Dicastery later that year, making her the highest-ranking woman in the Curia. This April, she became the Secretary for the Dicastery. Pope Francis also named religious sister Nathalie Becquart an Undersecretary of the Synod of Bishops, making her the first woman to have the right to vote in the Catholic Synod of Bishops.

The Pope’s words came as the agenda for the Second Assembly of Australia’s Plenary Council was disrupted over issues regarding women in the church. During Plenary Council assemblies, consultative votes are exercised by the 277 lay, religious and clerical members, while deliberative votes are exercised by bishops. The protest occurred after the outcome of the bishops’ votes on ‘Witnessing to the Equal Dignity of Women and Men’. One motion, including the consideration of female deacons “should Pope Francis authorise such ministry,” received a qualified majority among consultative voters but fell short of a qualified majority among bishops. A second motion for opportunities for women to participate in ministries and other roles failed among both consultative and deliberative voters. 

How the Church balances the liberal leanings expressed in Australia with not only the more conservative positions taken among US Catholics (although feelings in America can also be highly mixed) but with the growing conservatism among the Catholic countries of central and eastern Europe, is anyone’s guess. The Vatican cannot simply ignore central and eastern Europe as this is the only part of the Continent where the Church is actually growing, something likely to be accelerated if the next Pope is Hungarian. The Pope has alienated many conservatives as well by condemning abortion but not necessarily those who support it. The Holy Father’s willingness meanwhile to engage with Communist China – which is persecuting religious minorities to the point of actual genocide – calls into question the consistency on matters of human rights and dignity.

This is now a serious balancing act for a Church which is still seen as a loadstar for conservatives in a Western world becoming increasingly unmoored from its Christian roots. To be fair, a more democratic approach within the Church is not necessarily unwelcome. The bigger danger is how to balance liberal and conservative voices within the worldwide Catholic and Christian communities, upholding traditional values while adapting to calls for modernisation. How the Vatican reconciles the Catholicism of Hungarian and Polish Catholics – who view the Church as bound up with defence of Western civilisation – with the Catholicism of the Australian laypeople yesterday, is going to be a very difficult balancing act indeed.

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