“Baptism is the same for men and women, as far as I know. And synodality, walking together in the Church, is based on baptism.” Luxembourgish Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich, 64, a Jesuit like Francis, chosen by the Pope as a member of his Council and general relator of the Synod, smiles wryly as if it were the easiest thing in the world. But decades have passed since Paul VI established the Synod of Bishops in 1965, the revolution was in the air and now it is official: in the next Synod that will meet in the Vatican in October, women will also have the right to vote, and they will be “half” of the “70 non-bishops members” who will participate in the assembly to represent the “other faithful of the People of God” among priests, nuns, deacons, lay men and women, no longer “auditors” but full-fledged voters. The change was approved by Francis on April 17.
The Pope himself will choose the names from a list of 140 people identified by the world’s episcopal conferences. The first breach in the dam had actually opened at the beginning of 2021, when Francis appointed a nun, Sister Nathalie Becquart, Undersecretary of the Synod: at that moment it became known that she would be the first woman to vote in a Synod, since the Undersecretary as such has the right to do so. But now it is no longer an exception dictated by function, but a structural reform. Until now, women, religious or lay, could be “auditors” or collaborators in various functions, and intervene during the assembly, but when it came to voting they had no say. And it was the faithful themselves who pointed it out.
The next Synod on Synodality, in which the Church is invited to reflect on itself, will take place in two final stages, in October this year and in October 2024, but it was preceded and founded by a consultation phase ” base” in all the dioceses of the world. The result was a working document that summarizes the various observations and which, among other things, states: “From all continents comes a call for Catholic women to be valued first and foremost as baptized and equal members of the People of God.”
There had been no shortage of protests and accusations of sexism at the 2018 Synod. And an online petition with thousands of signatures, promoted by various church organizations, had also pointed out a paradox that revealed the underlying problem: it was said that women do not have right to vote because in the Synod of Bishops the bishops vote; but then how is it that, among the superiors of religious congregations who are not bishops but participate in the Synod, the superiors of male orders had the right to vote and the superiors of female orders did not? Several cardinals and bishops had already admitted that it made no sense. And Cardinal Mario Grech, Secretary General of the Synod, had made it clear that the turning point was near: “In recent Synods, numerous synod fathers have stressed the need for the entire Church to reflect on the place and functions of women Even Pope Francis has stressed on several occasions the importance of women participating more in the ecclesial processes of discernment and decision-making, and in recent Synods the number of women participating as experts or auditors has already increased With the appointment of Sister Nathalie Becquart and her possibility to participate with the right to vote, a door has been opened, so we will see what other steps can be taken in the future…’.
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