The Rt Hon Helen Clark ONZ PC said this in response to a question put to her by former Labour party cabinet minster Winnie Laban, who had asked her about the role of religion in addressing the world's problems.

"Absolutely critical and I say that as a person of no faith whatsoever, but most people aren't like me. Most people to have some adherence to faith and so faith communities have enormous influence."

Clark spoke particularly of the influence of Pope Francis.

"You take a faith leader like the Pope. He has influence that transcends religion. I said to someone the other day, 'I am not a religious person but thank God for the Pope'."

Clark said it would be obvious she did not agree with everything the Pope said. In this regard she singled out sexual and reproductive health.

"But on the basic issues of poverty, climate, justice - this man is speaking for the hopes of so many."

Clark said the importance of working with faith leaders on the local, national and global level is well acknowledged across agencies such as the United Nations Development Programme, the United Nations Population Fund and UNICEF.

It is critical, she said, to have the local faith leaders involved in the issues of gender.

"In something like trying to stop female genital mutilation, cutting - to have faith leaders come out against that [practice] and back the women in the community who are obviously trying to trying to stop it, is just critical.

"It is extremely important to bring the faith leaders with us and engage with them so that their voice can be heard on these issues," she said.

Clark was taking part a conversation with Dr Gill Greer, at Te Papa on 29 June.

The Conversation was Broadcast on RNZ National on Sunday August 6.

Greer has been CEO of Volunteer Service Abroad since July 2012. She leaves the organisation this month.

From 2006-2011 Greer was the Director General of the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF).

Listen to the podcast

Source

• Transcript taken from RNZ podcast " Helen Clark in Conversation with Gilll Greer"
• Image: Amritapuri

On his October 15 posting from Rome, Archbishop Dew noted that there had been vigorous arguments in the small group discussions taking place this week.

"The arguments are very strong as to whether this should be about doctrine and truth, or about mercy and compassion for those who struggle or for whom life is difficult," he said.

But the Archbishop of Wellington stated that doctrine is not being done away with.

"We are saying that the Church needs to be warm and welcoming - showing the mercy and kindness of Jesus."

Archbishop Dew also noted another bishop referring to the parable of the wheat and the weeds and saying that we need to admit we are all in this together.

"Sometimes we are the wheat and sometimes we are the weeds, but whatever happens, life will be full of both," Archbishop Dew said.

He also observed that some synod members only want to use scripture passages that support their own arguments.

In his October 16 posting, Archbishop Dew mentioned media portrayals of the competing factions at the synod, and admitted there is some truth in these.

"[But] it seems to me the majority [at the synod] are very aware of the need for the Church to reach out in new ways to many who do struggle," he wrote.

"I am sure that the mission of Pope Francis - even though some don't like it - is to make the Church a place of love and welcome, a community where people know they are accepted and cared for."

Archbishop Dew was sure this would come through when the small group discussions were to be reported back.

The blog is being updated daily with Archbishop Dew's postings on the New Zealand Catholic Bishops Conference website.

Sources

• Archbishop Dew synod blog
• Archbishop Dew synod blog
• Image: NZ Catholic

Longhurst's comments, reported in the widely read publication La Croix International, are strongly critical of the very people from whom he receives his daily bread.

New Zealand's Catholic bishops employ him to teach at Te Kupenga Catholic Theological College.

He is also the leader of SNAP - the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests.

Citing numerous broken promises, inadequate responses and apparent lack of accountability, Longhust (pictured) says "They [the bishops] have brought great shame on the New Zealand Catholic Church".

He says the bishops are overlooking the recommendations of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care and adds that its final report, which shows their lack of accountability and transparency in responding to pervasive abuse, merits serious condemnation.

"Given such a finding, perhaps it would be best for the local Church and New Zealand society if those church leaders, the bishops, tendered their resignations to the pope" he says.

The problem is longstanding and is not just about the current leaders, Longhurst points out.

He says 22 years ago, a bishops' pastoral letter on abuse said "We give you an assurance of our commitment to confront this problem with openness and transparency".

Despite this assurance, the Inquiry found the Catholic bishops did not honour this commitment.

"Evidently they are not capable of making the required changes" Longhurst says.

"By such repetitive misbehaviour, they are keeping us all at risk, endangering more children and vulnerable people in the care of New Zealand's Catholic Church.

"Therefore, they themselves must be changed. They must resign."

Episcopal accountability

After publication of the Royal Commission's final report, the Catholic bishops promised "to ensure that the findings and recommendations of this significant Inquiry are not lost or confined to words in a report" Longhurst explains.

Longhurst has accused the bishops and congregational leaders of a lack of transparency.

He says he has had no response from the bishops.

Survivors appeal

Catholic survivors in New Zealand have appealed to Pope Francis three times since 2022 to ask him to hold the bishops to account.

They also asked him to respect his own calls for openness and transparency in dealing with survivors' complaints.

In addition, they asked Francis to help dismantle what they continue to call the local church's system of coverup and denial that is harming so many people.

So far they have not had a reply.

Source

• La Croix

He was one of 12 students from the Asia-Pacific region who shared young people's concerns with the Pope during the online "Building Bridges" forum.

Organised by Loyola University Chicago, the forum was designed to enable Pope Francis and young people to meet and discuss their concerns.

New Zealand's youth

Lohrey represents a group he has been meeting with in New Zealand as part of the Building Bridges initiative.

He told Francis his student group is concerned with the Church's failure "in fully respecting and acting in accord with human dignity".

Because humans are created in God's image and likeness, we should be treated as full and valued members of society, he said.

The Church is inconsistent regarding human dignity, he said.

Abortion example

Lohrey told Francis his student group sees the Church offering insufficient dignity to the most vulnerable in our societies.

"We expect people to meet our rules, which turns people away from a relationship with Christ and makes the Church unattractive," he said.

"For example those who procure abortion are some of the most spiritually, emotionally and physically vulnerable people in our societies, yet the Church responds with an automatic excommunication.

"These people, desperately in need of unconditional love, must meet our requirements before we fully minister to them. This is a contradiction of the word unconditional.

"So how can young people be the change we need?" he asked.

Parishes also an issue

Lohery also expressed concern about the number of people who call themselves Christian but do not go to Church.

For instance he said that although 33 per cent of New Zealanders are Christian, only nine per cent go to Mass.

He suggested that the people not attending church were not necessarily at fault.

"Other organisations would believe a drop in attendance like this to be a result of their own doing.

"But in my experience, the attitude of clergymen and parish administration is that these people who do not attend Mass are simply not disciplined in practising their faith," he told the Pope.

A call to Pope Francis

At the end of his address to Pope Francis, Lohery asked for guidance.

"Pope Francis, you have been a revolutionary leader in making the church bring Christ's love to where people are.

"However, how can you ensure that the rest of our Church will follow your lead?

"What can be invested in ensuring there's education in recognising the dignity of all people, not just regular Mass attendees?"

Francis responds

Lohrey was one of three students in the video segment speaking with Pope Francis.

Chieh Hsuan Huang from Taiwan and Helen Vyanessa Ribca Oroh from Indonesia also joined the conversation raising concerns their own groups had discussed.

Francis thanked all three participants.

He did not address Lohrey's concerns directly but, speaking in a more general context, he focused on the importance of bearing witness.

In a time of automation, it is people and their witness that are most attractive, he said.

Belonging to groups, families, cultures and societies with good and strong values is helpful, as is witness.

The Pope encouraged the young people to develop and have their own identities.

"You must always bear witness, bear testimony for life and carry on.

"And I would insist on this very aspect.

"Focus on this ability of having your own identity.

"To move on, forward, working with others, helping one another, always. "

Abortion, reconciliation, absolution

Although Francis did not comment about abortion during the meeting, the Church's view on absolution for abortion is different from Lohrey's understanding.

During the Holy Year of Mercy in 2015 - 2016, Pope Francis extended the authority to absolve the sin of abortion to all priests.

He later indefinitely extended this faculty, which continues to this day.

Sources

• Building bridges across Asia Pacific: A synodal encounter between Pope Francis and university students (YouTube)
• CathNews NZ

On Sunday the Vatican published a personal letter Pope Francis wrote to Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople suggesting the leaders' gathering.

That same day Cardinal Kurt Koch — who heads the Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity — hand-delivered the letter to Patriarch Bartholomew during his visit to Istanbul for the Orthodox Church's patronal feast of St Andrew.

"The now imminent 1,700th anniversary ... will be another opportunity to bear witness to the growing communion that already exists among all who are baptised in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit" Francis wrote to Bartholomew.

Reflecting on six decades of Catholic-Orthodox dialogue while looking ahead to future possibilities for unity, Francis was positive.

He acknowledged the progress made since Vatican II's Unitatis Redintegratio decree marked the Catholic Church's official entry into the ecumenical movement 60 years ago.

Koch is firm that efforts toward unity must focus on "the innermost centre of self-revelation in Jesus Christ".

There must be an "ecumenism of blood" he says.

"Christians are not persecuted because they are Catholic, Lutheran or Anglican but because they are Christian."

Building peace in a time of war

While celebrating the "renewed fraternity" which Catholic-Orthodox communities had achieved since Vatican II, Francis also wrote in his letter to Bartholomew that full communion, particularly sharing "the one Eucharistic chalice", remains an unfulfilled goal.

Speaking of contemporary global tensions, Francis pointedly connected ecumenical efforts to peace-building.

"The fraternity lived and the witness given by Christians will also be a message for our world plagued by war and violence" his letter says. He specifically mentioned several war-torn countries by name, including Ukraine, Palestine, Israel and Lebanon.

He also highlighted Orthodox representatives' recent participation in October's Synod on Synodality.

The traditional Catholic-Orthodox exchange of delegations occurs twice a year. Catholic representatives travel to Istanbul for St Andrew's feast on November 30 and Orthodox delegates visit Rome for the feast of Sts Peter and Paul on June 29.

The delegation participated in the Divine Liturgy at the Patriarchal Church of St George, Phanar. It also held discussions with the synodal commission charged with relations with the Catholic Church.

Source

• CNA

"When I arrived, it was a time when the pope started to put women into leadership positions" Porro told CNA. "What I've noticed over these years is that the momentum has really increased."

Since his election in 2013, Pope Francis has appointed several women to prominent positions.

These include Sister Alessandra Smerilli as secretary of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, Sister Nathalie Becquart as undersecretary of the Synod of Bishops, and Barbara Jatta as director of the Vatican Museums.

Porro officially ended her mission on 29 November after serving as one of 51 female ambassadors to the Holy See.

During her tenure, she collaborated with women in Vatican roles and Catholic organisations to encourage inclusivity and emphasised the importance of advancing women's participation while fostering partnerships with men.

"Together we've tried to give support to women working in the Catholic Church, or religious women, or other groups - working in collaboration with men - to try to advance women and ensure everyone has a seat at the table" she said.

Collaboration essential

Porro also worked on issues such as human trafficking, child protection and religious freedom. She underlined the importance of collaboration between Church and State to address global challenges.

"As institutions, we can work together to address some of these issues" Porro said. "There are lots of areas that we've worked with the Vatican and I think that there's much more that can be done — lots of partnerships."

Porro has also worked closely with the Holy See's charitable arm, Caritas Internationalis, "to raise the voices of the most vulnerable".

Stephanie MacGillivray, Caritas Internationalis Senior Officer for Identity and Mission, Women's Empowerment and Inclusion, acknowledged that women's leadership and their human rights within religion are sometimes contested. However, she said collaboration among Church leaders, faith-based organisations and government agents is essential.

According to MacGillivray, this joint effort is crucial for addressing and overcoming challenges that undermine the rights and dignity of women and girls globally.

Reflecting on her work in the Vatican since first presenting her credentials to Pope Francis in 2020, Porro expressed her "hope that the work we've done over these years continues to progress".

Sources

Catholic News Agency

CathNews New Zealand

The Synod's final document must be accepted since it constitutes church teaching, says Francis.

"The Final Document participates in the ordinary Magisterium of the Successor of Peter and thus I ask that it be accepted as such" he wrote to bishops when he was handing them the document, using the church's term for its teaching authority.

Many of its reforms will be a matter of implementing existing canon law, not rewriting it, he clarifies. When necessary, local churches can "creatively enact new ministries and missionary roles" and present their experiences to the Vatican.

Bishops responsibility

Francis said the document offers instruction on enacting the Synod's final report proposals which is now up to local churches to accept and implement.

Reporting will coincide with bishops' "ad limina" meetings with the pope and Vatican officials every five years.

Francis is firm about the reporting schedule, stressing that "each bishop will make sure to report which choices were made at his local church regarding what is contained in the final document, what challenges they faced and what were the fruits".

The Pope also says help with implementation will be provided.

He says the General Secretariat of the Synod, along with other Vatican departments, will ensure "individual national churches join the [ongoing] synodal journey".

What will bishops reports contain?

Particular issues the Pope will be seeking from the bishops' reports will reflect the key priorities the final Synod document highlights.

The way these are implemented will vary, he says. That's because the bishops of each country or region are being encouraged to seek "more encultured solutions" to issues involving local traditions and challenges.

Local churches are given freedom to implement these within their "different ecclesial, cultural and local contexts".

Key priorities (that are now part of Church doctrine) aim to promote a more horizontal Church structure. There must be greater transparency and more accountability for bishops and church leaders, increased lay involvement through new ministries and adjusted governing structures, and a guarantee there is space for previously marginalised groups.

Source

• Our Sunday Visitor
• Religion News Service

He slammed the Pope's call last week for the global community to study whether Israel's military campaign in Gaza constituted genocide of the Palestinian people.

The G word

The Pope's views are included in his new book "Hope Never Disappoints. Pilgrims Towards a Better World".

It it, he says "according to some experts, what is happening in Gaza has the characteristics of genocide". This statement and other extracts were published on Sunday in Italy's La Stampa daily newspaper.

The book is scheduled to be published today.

As Francis has often expressed disquiet over the Israel-Palestine war and the impact of its victims, it's perhaps to be expected that his book would include comments such as these.

He has often given his views about the Israel-Palestine war, so his forthright comments in the book are not surprising.

In September for example, he said "Israel's attacks in Gaza and Lebanon are immoral and disproportionate", adding that the Israeli army had gone beyond the rules of war.

Some sorry facts

The Israeli occupation army aggression against the besieged Gaza Strip has wrought immense destruction:

• Some 148,000 Palestinian people are dead or wounded
• Most victims are children and women
• There are over 10,000 missing people
• Famine has killed dozens of children and elderly people

The Middle East Monitor says the situation in Gaza is being described as one of the worst humanitarian disasters in the world.

Netanyahu charged with war crimes

The Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin supported the Pope's comments about Gaza.

While he was at the Pope's book launch, Parolin told media "The Pope has expressed the position of the Holy See, which is that these matters must be thoroughly studied because there are technical criteria for defining the concept of genocide".

He did not comment about the International Criminal Court's decision to issue an arrest warrant for Netanyahu on charges of war crimes in Gaza.

Source

• Middle East Monitor
• Vatican News

"Christian hope, fulfilled in Jesus and realised in his kingdom, needs us and our commitment, needs our faith expressed in works of charity, needs Christians who do not look the other way," the pope said on Nov 17, celebrating Mass for the World Day of the Poor in St Peter's Basilica.

"We are the ones that must make his grace shine forth through lives steeped in compassion and charity that become signs of the Lord's presence, always close to the suffering of the poor in order to heal their wounds and transform their fate," he said.

Read More

The Pope can't call Gaza a genocide. It isn't, insists Bruck - a 93-year old Holocaust survivor.

"Genocide is something else. When a million children are burned to death, then you can talk about genocide" Bruck told Italian media.

What the Pope said about Gaza

The Pope's comments about Gaza came in recently published extracts from a new book devoted to the Jubilee Year of 2025, titled Hope Never Disappoints: Pilgrims Towards a Better World.

"According to some experts, what's happening in Gaza has the characteristics of a genocide" Francis wrote. "Attentive investigation is needed to determine if it fits the technical definition formulated by jurists and international organisms."

Bruck says Francis uses the term genocide "too easily".

Doing so, she said "diminishes the gravity of true genocide… genocide is what happened to the Armenians. Genocide is the million children burned in the ovens of Auschwitz, along with five million other Jews also burned in the concentration camps".

For genocide to be happening, Israel would have to have the extermination of the Palestinian population on its agenda. But while the bloodshed in Gaza is a "tragedy that concerns everyone", extermination is not Israel's intention.

In fact, Hamas is the only party to the conflict that has spoken of genocide and has vowed to destroy the Jewish people throughout the world, she said.

What the Pope should say

In Bruck's view, Francis should be more outspoken against what she called a "tsunami" of anti-Semitism washing across Europe.

"I'd like the Pope to raise his voice on the subject, but I don't hear it the way I would like" she said.

Bruck, who once received Pope Francis in her Rome apartment and later wrote a book about the experience - to which Francis contributed the foreword, said she'd tell him what she thinks when he phones her for her birthday, as he has done since they met.

"I'll tell him that I'd like him to intervene decisively against this hatred that's broken out again against the Jews" she said.

In her recent interview, Bruck said she thinks Francis is afraid of the current rise in anti-Semitism.

She says she's saddened, demoralised, disgusted, scandalised and indignant. "I'm truly living a very ugly moment. Anti-Semitism, like fascism, is never dead. It's millennia old and I believe it will never end".

Holocaust survivor

Bruck is a Hungarian-born Jew. She survived the Auschwitz, Dachau and Bergen-Belsen concentration camps which swallowed both her parents and an older brother .

Bruck, together with a surviving brother and a sister, was liberated by the Allies at Bergen-Belsen in 1945.

Source

• Crux

This decision clearly demonstrates the Pope's vision of how consultation (decision-making) and actual decision-making should interact.

The process has emphasised unity and harmony, though the Pope accepts that some topics saw considerable dissent. The document challenges dissenters to respect the decision made; in this instance, appealing to a higher authority is not an option.

Controversial Paragraph 60

The paragraph on women drew the highest number of dissenting votes. Here is the text, translated from English:

"60. Through baptism, women and men share equal dignity as members of God's people.

However, women continue to face obstacles in fully recognising their charisms, calling, and role in all aspects of Church life, hindering the Church's shared mission. Scripture highlights the significant role of many women in salvation history.

It was to a woman, Mary Magdalene, that the Resurrection was first announced. On Pentecost, Mary, the Mother of God, was present with many other women who had followed the Lord.

It is essential that the biblical passages telling these stories receive adequate representation in the liturgical lectionaries. Major moments in Church history affirm the vital contributions of women inspired by the Holy Spirit.

Women form the majority of churchgoers and are often the first to bear witness to faith within families. They are active in small Christian communities and parishes, lead schools, hospitals, and shelters, and initiate efforts for reconciliation and social justice.

Women contribute to theological research and hold leadership roles in church institutions, diocesan offices, and even the Roman Curia. Some hold positions of authority and lead their communities.

This assembly calls for the full implementation of every opportunity already available to women under Canon Law, especially in areas where these roles have not yet been fully realised.

No reason or barrier should prevent women from taking on leadership roles within the Church: What comes from the Holy Spirit cannot be stopped.

Furthermore, the question of women's access to the diaconate remains open, and this discernment must continue.

The assembly also urges greater care with language and imagery in homilies, teachings, catechesis, and official Church documents, along with more space for the contributions of female saints, theologians, and mystics."

Observations

The introduction almost feels like an apology, acknowledging that in some parts of the Church, women's contributions are hindered rather than encouraged or appreciated.

The text reiterates familiar points: women possess equal dignity, Scripture honours prominent women, and Mary Magdalene is noted before even the Mother of Jesus. Mary Magdalene is honoured as the "apostle to the apostles"—in a sense, the first "bishop," given that bishops are successors to the apostles.

However, the final document does not fully embrace this concept.

The document also highlights that women have historically held important roles in the Church, with many holding significant leadership positions, particularly in religious orders.

Women are often the primary witnesses to the Gospel within families.

Canon Law already envisions numerous responsibilities for women, which should be fully embraced: "No reason or barrier should prevent women from taking on leadership roles within the Church: What comes from the Holy Spirit cannot be stopped."

The document also states, "The question of women's access to the diaconate remains open."

Cardinal Víctor Miguel Fernández, head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, informed the female Synod delegates that the time for this had not yet arrived.

Why did so many oppose such a well-crafted but unsurprising text?

Likely, the 97 no-votes out of 356 eligible voters reflect various perspectives.

Some oppose any change in the Church's stance on women; presumably, these individuals also voted against involving women in priestly formation, which 40 delegates rejected.

Others felt the text did not go far enough and hoped for a stronger endorsement of women's access to the diaconate.

Women and Ordination

At a demonstration outside the Synod, some women expressed their call not for the diaconate but for ordination to the priesthood.

To them, the idea of women serving as deacons indefinitely, while the door to priesthood remains "never ever" open, is unacceptable.

This "never ever" mirrors the resistance Peter displayed when he initially refused to eat unclean food.

The Holy Spirit needed only three dreams in Joppa and an apostolic council for Peter to change his mind.

Pope Pius IX's "never ever" from the 1864 Syllabus of Errors endured for nearly 100 years before the Council's decree on religious freedom. It is reasonable to wonder how long Pope John Paul II's "never ever" from 1984 will last.

Theologically astute women, within and outside the Synod, argue that priests represent not only the Risen Christ—who transcended gender in the Resurrection—but also the Church, often described as feminine or Marian.

Shouldn't men be able to represent the Church and women represent the Risen Christ?

Indeed, don't all baptised individuals, both ordained and lay, "represent" both the Church and the Risen Christ through their ecclesial and sacramental actions?

The Synod has listened and emphasised that the Spirit cannot be restrained—even on the question of women.

It seems to have accelerated the countdown towards ordination.

• Paul Zulehner is professor emeritus of Pastoral Theology at the University of Vienna.

He told the Italian army's Transports and Materials Corps last Thursday that he was delighted they shared a devotion to the martyr St Christopher - he carries him everywhere and the Corps has had him as their patron since 1954.

"I always carry a medallion of St Christopher because it helps me to go forward" he said.

What having a patron means

Having the high patronage of a martyr saint who gave his life to bear witness to Christ comes with a few requirements, Francis told the Corps.

Firstly, it means acknowledging that there is no profession or state of life that does not need to be anchored to true values and does not need divine protection.

In fact, the more your work involves supporting, protecting, saving or losing lives, the more important it is to "maintain a high ethical code and an inspiration that draws from above".

Being proud of having a patron saint means committing oneself to working in a way that prioritises human dignity - as we are images of God.

This style is distinguished for its defence of the weakest and those who find themselves in danger, whether through wars, natural disasters or pandemics.

Honouring your patron also means it is important to recognise your colleagues' abilities and characteristics.

But it doesn't stop there. It is also important that we "implore from Heaven that supplement of Grace, which is indispensable to best accomplish the missions we undertake.

"It means, in short, recognising that we are not omnipotent, that not everything is in our hands, and that we need divine blessing" Francis said.

Understanding St Christopher's role in their work will help when the Corps is called upon to help with peacekeeping operations, natural disasters, civil protection tasks and indispensable logistical activities.

Service

Francis commended the Corps for their service to others.

"Service involves placing oneself at the disposal of the common good, not sparing energy and effort..." he said.

"Service, serving, and service gives us dignity. What is your dignity? I am a servant: that is the great dignity!" Francis said.

His patronage means that even when we are unaware, we "carry the style of Christ, who came to serve, not to be served" Francis said.

St Christopher

St Christopher was removed from the General Roman Calendar in 1969 as part of the liturgical reforms following the Second Vatican Council.

This change was made because there is no evidence for the historical authenticity of Christopher.

However, the Catholic Church still recognises St Christopher as a saint, and his feast day (traditionally 25 July) can still be celebrated in local and particular calendars.

In practice, he remains a popular saint, especially as the patron of travellers, and many Catholics continue to venerate him.

Source

• Vatican communications
• katholisch.de
• Britannica

Typical comments range from "There's too much emphasis about sin", "my sins put Jesus on the Cross", "I'm unworthy", "I'm a sinner" to "it's all negative".

This guilt-based old religion mentality, ties us into a God who is tough as old boots and glares down from above noting our every wrong move.

Such held over views from childhood, disrupts us from responding to a God who lavishly loves us to bits, each other and ourselves.

Can you imagine that!

The reality

Sin is real. Grace is real.

The Hebrew understanding of sin translates into khata, which means a failure to fulfil to be truly human. To ‘miss the mark' in living and loving as God's image and likeness as fully human alive men and women.

Sin is about immaturity. The consequences of sin in its various levels of seriousness causes injury to another and to our natural world.

To sin therefore, is that behaviour where we have disrespected relationships, failed to act justly and trashed the environment.

So to dismiss sin, or replace the word altogether with "wrong choices", is to ignore an innate truth of our human condition.

St Paul "gets it"

St Paul gradually realises, as we all do at some point, that we are contradictory figures.

We do live in tension between what is truth or untruth, what is healthy or unhealthy or what is life giving or life draining. He names this an inward struggle.

He says "I cannot understand my own behaviour. I fail to carry out the things I want to do, and I find myself doing the very things I hate.

"When I act against my will, then, it is not my true self doing it, but sin which lives in me". (Romans 7:19-20)

Yet St Paul isn't on his own. I can identify with what he says - and reckon some of you can to.

Hard to believe that Paul, once named Saul, was a predator killer of Christians. Yet only owning his sin could he come to recognise that his behaviour originated from the Fall.

In the beginning

This Genesis story attempts to offer an explanation in how sin entered the world impacting on our beingness as women and men.

How Eve and Adam were in the very beginning living in right relationships with each other, comfortable in full view of God and in the garden called Eden.

All was blissfully heavenly.

Then antipathy entered breaking the friendship and leaving us all vulnerable to the inclination of sin.

But evil wasn't going to have the last say. God's plan of recovery restored this friendship when Jesus became the willing reconciliatory sacrifice.

It was sin that was destroyed by the cross. Grace never entered the world because grace always was.

Life and liberty

Back to St Paul. He so rightly says in Galatians 2:20. I have been crucified with Christ, and I live now not with my own life, but with life of Christ lives in me.

Easter changed absolutely everything. The Cross becoming a symbol of liberty enabling us to become our baptismal selves and not victims to this ancestral sin.

That's St Paul's point: - that God is good and not jealous as the serpent claims.

That is why we don't have to be joyless or slaves to our false selves.

As Pope Francis suggests, we don't have to look like we've come back from a funeral or live lives that seem like Lent without Easter (Evangelii Gaudium 6,10) and he is right.

It's often when we come to that place of self-truth, in recognising where we ‘missed the mark' do we encounter simultaneously God's giftedness in Jesus.

Can we name what hampers us from being truly human as women and men of God and being created solely to be God's own image? Can we name those occasions where we have ‘come up short' in our ‘being' the Glory of God.

Becoming our true selves

Pentecost Sunday holds the power to burst with life in our lives. To get excited about who we are.

"We become fully human when we become more than human, when we let God bring us beyond ourselves in order to attain the fullest truth of our being." said Pope Francis in article 8 in Evangelii Gaudium.

The Redemption becomes the relationship to continually become a new creation converting over and over and over again to become our whole person.

That we don't have to choose sin. We can say no when critically pulling another down to boost ourselves up. We can so no to blaming another for our mistakes.

We don't have to lose our rag at another. We don't have to kill off those of little account. We can stop and attend to a need we see in front of us.

By integrating sin, by owning our ‘stuff' we are simultaneously claiming God's investment in us - God's intense hope and trust in us to be God's image.

You have stripped off your old behaviour with your old self and you have put on a new self which will progress towards true knowledge the more it is renewed in the image of its creator. (Colossians 3:9-11)

And that's worth getting excited about.

• Copy supplied
• Sue Seconi (pictured) is a writer and a parishioner from the Catholic Parish of Whanganui - te Parihi katorika ki Whanganui.

The Project Hope initiative was established in 1999. It has since spread to most Latin American countries, offering help to those who seek "reconciliation and forgiveness" and to experience God's mercy.

Its goal is to help the parents work out their grief "with the help of trained professionals and through an approach of acceptance, understanding and confidentiality, which seeks to facilitate the encounter of the mother and father with their child who was the victim of an abortion".

Calling the members "angels", Francis noted they accompany the "other victims of abortion" - those who have decided to end the lives of their children.

Suffering is ‘indescribable'

At the audience, Francis spoke of his "indescribable" joy at receiving the group, because of their work over the past 25 years in accompanying people suffering from choosing abortion.

"The arrival of each newborn is often synonymous with a joy that overwhelms us in a mysterious way and that renews hope" he said.

"It's as if we perceived, without knowing how to explain it, that every child announces the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem, of God's desire to make his dwelling in our hearts."

The Lord "wanted us to share in a pain that, because it is the antithesis of that joy, shocks us brutally" he said, referring to scripture.

"A cry is heard in Ramah, sobbing and bitter weeping: Rachel is weeping for her children, and she refuses to be consoled for her children — they are no more!"

Francis explained the first cry "referred to children, the holy innocents, and their pain ceased with death, while the bitter weeping was the lament of mothers that is always renewed when they remember".

He also referred to the Holy Family's flight to Egypt because of Herod's order to kill newborns. This explains "that such a great evil drives Jesus away from us, prevents him from entering our home, from having a place in our inn".

Evil does not have the last word

Francis is firm that no one should lose hope.

"Evil does not have the last word, it is never definitive. Like the angel in St Joseph's dream, God announces to us that, after this desert, the Lord will return to take possession of his house."

Those involved in Project Hope are like "that angel".

"I truly thank you for it" he said.

Francis also invited them to trust "in the firm hand of St Joseph so that these sisters of ours can find Jesus in their desolation".

"With him they will reach the warm and safe home of Nazareth, where they will experience inner silence and the peaceful joy of seeing themselves welcomed and forgiven in the bosom of the Holy Family" he concluded.

Source

• CNA

This is how the Synod on Synodality proceeded over two long years at the round tables, above all with the explicit non-dispute over the church's controversial issues that had been removed from it.

These are serious and will determine the real significance of the synodal negotiations.

The synod is not responsible for this, as it was a papal decision taken over the heads of the synod members.

It turned the synod into a torso, but Rome knows all about that.

Even as an overstretched torso, treating synodality for its own sake, the synod produced a long text with lines and between-the-lines that even attempt to stand up in some places.

Did this Pope mean such a standing up when he concluded by warning that the Church must not remain seated?

There was universal agreement in favour of this - of course in remaining seated, especially on irreconcilable positions on the outstanding issues.

The two go well together, as the power struggle is simply postponed, which is as certain to materialise in this church as the proverbial Amen.

But this power struggle should not be allowed to happen now and must not disrupt the overstretching of the synod format, which it will put an end to as soon as it breaks out.

This is why the text was immediately adopted by Pope Francis. What appeared to some to be an enormous and surprising step smells more like a dodge to others who are more legally savvy.

Now the head of the synod does not have to comment further on the synodal recommendations that do not suit him completely or at all.

Francis simply does not have to explain himself, especially not in a semi-definitive way, and can continue to pretend that he and his office are not a factor in the power struggle.

But somehow it doesn't fit that he quickly sent an encyclical on devotion to the Sacred Heart in the final phase of the debates on women's issues, which then became even more heated.

Why couldn't it have waited, unless it was to divert the remaining public attention to it?

Agonising power struggle over synodality as destiny

These debates were always somehow clandestinely present, unstoppable either by the mere non-publicity of the negotiations, fatally reminiscent of the Pian era, or by the method of mere non-argument, as if a parallel ecclesiastical universe were available.

But the kairos that these two years have been for the women's issue was so natural to sit out. Its window has now closed.

This kairos will not return, no matter how much, how gladly or how often the Holy Spirit is invoked, to whom we should now listen.

All that remains is an agonising power struggle for a synodality that is now a "constitutive dimension" (no. 29) of the Church.

It is only through the power struggles that it so ostracises that it can rise above this.

After all, it is not without reason that the contemporary world did not take any particular interest in the Synod on Synodality.

How could it, since it was definitely kept outside. It simply radiated little to the outside world if it is of so little importance there.

Now the Holy Spirit is supposed to sort it out; after all, he is unstoppable, according to No. 60. Will he soon storm in on synodal tracks? We shall see.

Delays are inevitable, no matter how slowly the trains are travelling with the serious problems that remain unresolved.

There are no overtaking tracks and well-developed high-speed lines.

The decisive passages on women and their marginalisation in the church are proof of this.

They do not recognise any good reasons that prevent women from holding leadership positions in the church, and they keep open the possibility of ordaining women as deacons (No. 60).

Those who consider both to be a serious step forward completely misjudge the situation of the Catholic Church.

It cannot afford not to recognise this openness without making itself completely untrustworthy and downright ridiculous; this applies on all continents and in all serious cultures on the planet.

No synod, no pope, no council is in a position to declare this question clearly closed. The only problem is that keeping a space open does not mean actually taking action to enter it.

Women in the Council of Cardinals

But this has now become the litmus test for synodality as well as for pontificates; they can only be active and activated after the end of patience with them.

The Church's magisterium has been signalling that it is time for women to stop being discriminated against ever since John XXIII's last encyclical, Pacem in terris.

If the current pope and his pontificate really took their own programme of devoting themselves to the marginalised in this world seriously, they would have to apply it to their own church and not just to a gallery of pretty pictures.

This is about women and also about victims of sexualised violence in the church.

There is no more patience here with non-openness for the definitive end of marginalisation and nothing will change.

Synodalities and pontificates will be judged by this; they can no longer get away with appeals for patience from anyone.

This applies to the current pontificate with the topos of the ordination of deaconesses.

But it also applies to the world synodal demand that the more synodal the church becomes, the more women should be allowed to take up positions of leadership in the church.

This is of little help and is suspected of not being taken seriously as long as there are no women in the cardinalate and the synodal voices accept this.

That is where the power is, because cardinals elect the Pope, i.e. the decisive Catholic governing body.

As long as this exclusion is not tidied up, the other appointments of women to influential positions will remain a waste of time, however synodally beneficial they may be, which is of course to be wished for these women.

Two or three legal strokes of the pen would suffice for the change.

Cardinal is not an ordained office. And of course women cannot be appointed to this body without recognising their possible eligibility in the conclave.

If the worst came to the worst, a cleric would probably still be found for the internal Roman episcopal see.

That would not even be clericalism.

• First published in english.katholisch.de
• Hans-Joachim Sander (pictured) has been Professor of Dogmatics at the University of Salzburg since 2002

Unlike the widespread political and media interest surrounding Laudato si' in 2015 or even Fratelli tutti in 2020, this encyclical received little attention beyond Catholic circles.

An encyclical's impact takes time.

In 2015, Laudato si' coincided with the COP21 summit in Paris, which amplified its reception. For Dilexit nos, however, there was no prior anticipation.

Unlike Fratelli tutti, which included accessible themes such as migration and human unity, this new encyclical on the Sacred Heart appears almost inscrutable to the French media landscape.

This lack of visibility reflects some level of media disinterest in church life, a point the church should consider.

To complicate matters, the encyclical was released just days before the conclusion of the Synod, diluting its impact.

Additionally, Dilexit nos may have unsettled some readers.

The pope's last two encyclicals were highly social in focus, making Francis appear more of a political figure than a religious leader.

Public opinion is often more engaged with his social and political positions than the spiritual reflections underlying them.

Thus, Dilexit nos might surprise or even disappoint some. IYet, by meditating on human love, it addresses the most significant social bond, ending with the "heart of hearts": the role of love.

It's a profound message that aligns with his consistent teachings since the beginning of his papacy.

An encyclical for everyone

I don't believe this encyclical is aimed solely at Catholics. For those who take the time to read it, Pope Francis offers solutions to address today's crises.

For me, Dilexit nos completes a trilogy with Laudato si' and Fratelli tutti.

First, he addressed the environment, our shared "body" marked by ecological suffering; then the social body, torn by war and division; now, he turns to the bodily self, emphasizing human interiority.

Without reconnecting with the inner power of love, humanity won't find solutions to the struggles highlighted in the first two encyclicals.

Though the message—calling for the awakening of hearts—has yet to be widely received, I'm convinced this encyclical has a promising future.

The pope underscored that true change begins in the heart.

Love is an antidote to an increasingly cold, indifferent world. Therefore, we must embrace this text and convey what the pope seeks to communicate.

"There seems to be a waning interest in the pope"

Jean-Louis de La Vaissière, former AFP journalist accredited to the Vatican from 2011 to 2016 and author of several books on the papacy.

Media disinterest

It's unsurprising that this encyclical received little media attention.

Over time, though still popular, Pope Francis attracts interest only when addressing hot-button issues like same-sex couple blessings or women's ordination.

Topics like his health or potential resignation also draw attention, but little else does.

After eleven years of pontificate, there's a noticeable erosion of interest.

This was evident after his trip to Marseille in September 2023, where his message, particularly on immigration, wasn't universally well-received.

During his September trip to Asia, French news outlets barely covered it, overshadowed by domestic stories.

Similarly, his visit to Belgium was only noted for his comments on abortion, which sparked shock.

The French media and society are largely indifferent to deeply religious subjects like the Sacred Heart.

Francis' previous encyclicals, Laudato si' on the environment and Fratelli tutti on fraternity, resonated because they touched on issues relevant to the public.

Pope John Paul II's powerful words attracted a lot of attention in previous decades, as did Benedict XVI's, despite their theological depth.

With this encyclical on the Sacred Heart, Francis presents a deeply religious text tinged with traditional, popular devotion, which France's major media tend to dismiss.

It reflects the paradox of a pope who embraces the modern world yet draws deeply from tradition. His call to return to the essentials—love, affection, connection—runs counter to today's values: speed, efficiency, profitability.

Pope Francis is a cultured man, steeped in French theological tradition and European mysticism. Yet these references no longer resonate widely.

This disinterest may also reflect a deeper issue: some feel disillusioned with him because he hasn't conformed to the progressive ideals many expected.

His message is paradoxical, at times daring, at others more conservative.

His recent strong statements against abortion in Belgium, for example, surprised the French, who largely support constitutionalising abortion rights.

Such views may have led the media to dismiss him as a relic of the past, not the progressive leader they anticipated.

• First published in La Croix
• Arnaud Bevilacqua and Clémence Houdaille are journalists at La Croix

In a series of interviews aired on Belgian television, Becciu discussed Pope Francis' role and his own conviction for fraud and embezzlement.

Becciu, who served as the papal chief of staff until his resignation in 2020, is currently appealing a five-year prison sentence for misusing church funds.

"It will be necessary to clarify the exercise of papal authority" Becciu said. The cardinal insisted that the pope should be removed from the temporal governance of Vatican City. "That is, he should no longer be a head of state."

Convicted Cardinal Becciu

In a historic ruling, the Vatican Criminal Court on Saturday sentenced Becciu, 75, to five and a half years in prison.

This marks the first instance of such a high-ranking church official facing prison time for financial misconduct.

Becciu was found guilty on several charges, including misappropriation related to a significant loss-making investment in a London property.

The court found that Becciu failed to ensure due diligence while overseeing an investment of around $200 million between 2013 and 2014.

This investment represented nearly one-third of the total assets of the Vatican State Secretariat at the time.

Court finds limited fraud charges

Although Becciu was found guilty of misappropriation, he was cleared of other fraud allegations tied to the London deal.

Brokers and financial advisors involved—Enrico Crasso, Raffaele Mincione, Gianluigi Torzi and Nicola Squillace—were handed prison sentences ranging from five and a half to seven and a half years for related charges including fraud and money laundering.

Joint fraud scheme

Cardinal Becciu faced further charges involving 570,000 euros allocated to Cecilia Marogna, allegedly under the guise of humanitarian aid.

The court found they conspired to misuse these funds, resulting in Marogna's sentence of three years and nine months.

"The court recognised that both parties committed serious fraud" the Vatican judge said in the written ruling.

Family ties

The court also determined Becciu transferred 125,000 euros from the Vatican to a charity managed by his brother, Antonio.

While the charitable purpose was deemed legitimate, Becciu breached Vatican penal codes by directing funds to a close family member.

Becciu maintains innocence

During the Belgian TV broadcast, Becciu maintained his innocence, arguing that the pope was misled about his actions.

"I guess someone took revenge on me" Becciu speculated.

He attributed his downfall to jealousy over his close relationship with the pope.

Despite the court's rulings being lighter than the demands of the prosecution, Becciu's defence team announced plans to appeal, challenging the legitimacy of the entire trial process.

Sources

The Pillar

AP News

English Katholisch

CathNews New Zealand

To cite a classic for-instance, critics have noted that plenty of advocates of women clergy and LGBTQ+ outreach were included among the official delegates, but no devotees of the traditional Latin Mass and few prominent pro-lifers. (Notably, the word "abortion" never appears in the 51-page concluding document.)

A superficial look at the voting on the concluding document, adopted Saturday night, could support an impression of false conformity. Most of its 155 paragraphs were adopted by an overwhelming majority of the 355 participants casting votes, with a typical result being 352-3 or 350-5.

The lone case in which the "yes" vote dropped below 300 was for paragraph 60, which deals with women deacons, but even the 97 contrary votes it drew do not necessarily represent a register of conservative dissent.

Consider the wording: "The question of women's access to diaconal ministry remains open.

This discernment needs to continue." That might have displeased a conservative who would prefer a straightforward "no," but it equally might have irritated a liberal frustrated with all the talk who believes the time has come to pull the trigger.

The left-leaning ethos of the synod was perhaps most clear on Oct. 24, when Argentine Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernandez, prefect of the Vatican's Dicastery of the Faith, held an open meeting with roughly 100 participants to discuss the role of women, including an earlier statement by Fernandez that "there is still no room for a positive decision" on the diaconate.

To be clear, Fernandez is hardly anyone's idea of a traditionalist.

He was the ghost writer of 2016's Amoris Laetitia, opening a cautious door to communion for divorced and civilly remarried Catholics, and the official drafter of Fiducia Supplicans, the December 2023 text authorising blessings of persons in same-sex relationships.

Yet he was forced to spend most of the hour and a half discussion last Thursday convincing synod insurgents that he's progressive enough.

(We know the contents of this discussion because the Vatican released an audio recording of it, despite a general information blackout on internal synod discussions.)

Critical questions

During the discussion, Fernandez took a total of 12 questions, almost all of which, to one degree or another, were critical.

One questioner, for instance, asked why of the ten study groups established by Pope Francis to ponder sensitive matters raised by the synod, the group dealing with ministry, including female deacons, is the only one entrusted to a Vatican department, suggesting it's not a terribly "synodal" arrangement.

Another mockingly asked about repeated claims that conditions are not "mature" for resolving the issue of women deacons.

With fruit, he said, one determines maturity by looking at colour, aroma and texture. What, he asked, are the indicators for the Church? Without such clear criteria, he warned, "We could be doing this for the rest of our lives." (That line drew one of just three rounds of applause during the session.)

Another questioner noted that a 1997 study by the International Theological Commission which was favorable to the idea of women deacons was never published, and said "there are suspicions something similar" is happening now.

The final questioner pointed to Pope Francis's recent decisions to open the ministries of acolyte, lector and catechist to women, saying that when he started out in the church decades ago, his local community already had women playing those roles.

How long, he wondered, will we have to wait for the pope and the Vatican to recognise that once again, they're fifty years late?

Throughout, Fernandez often seemed a bit on the defensive, trying to assure everyone he's not the stereotypical Vatican official of years past.

"I'm not famous in the Church for being stuck in the Middle Ages," he insisted at the end. "You can relax, knowing I've got an open heart for seeing where the Holy Spirit takes us."

Synod's soft landing

Given all that, the real question about the 2024 synod may how such a seemingly skewed assembly nevertheless produced a basically cautious and non-revolutionary result.

Examining the final document, on most points it seems to bend over backwards to strike a balance between innovation and continuity, and never actually endorses radical change on any front. In effect, the earthquake many expected three years ago turned out to be a minor tremor.

One explanation may be that the more conservative minority in the synod punched above its weight, another a general fatigue among participants with the arguments that erupted last time and a desire to end on a pacific note.

Mostly, however, one has to say it was Pope Francis who steered the synod toward this soft landing, taking most of the hot-button issues off the table and sending signals that he wanted the focus to be on the journey, not the destination.

Francis also announced Saturday night that unlike in past synods, this time there will be no apostolic exhortation to draw conclusions - the final document will stand on its own as the closing act.

In this way, Francis has short-circuited the possibility that activists disappointed with the lack of breakthroughs from the synod might hope to get them from the pope. Read more

• John L. Allen Jr. is the editor of Crux, specialising in coverage of the Vatican and the Catholic Church.

The report notes that Africa, Asia and South America lag behind in creating these structures due to a lack of resources.

It stresses the urgent need for "increasing solidarity among episcopal conferences, to mobilise resources for a universal standard in safeguarding".

The report

In 2022 Pope Francis asked the Commission to draft a report offering "a reliable account on what is presently being done and what needs to change, so that the competent authorities can act".

The report would be a step toward "transparency and accountability" for lay people who are losing trust because of the clerical abuse crisis, Francis said.

The Commission then undertook the first global assessment of the Church's efforts to address its sexual abuse crisis. After having a close look at a dozen countries, two religious orders and two Vatican offices, the Commission analysed its findings and recommendations.

Its subsequent annual report offers "mechanisms for change in the short-term" and guidelines for Church leaders at all levels for implementing safeguarding measures, says Maud de Boer-Buquicchio (pictured) who oversaw the report's drafting.

While progress is being made in some respects, "regrettably much of the Church remains without robust data collection practices or capacities" she adds.

The Church must commit to investing in its data collection infrastructure and resources" she says.

Journey of change

It is ten years since Pope Francis set up the Commission.

The report's analyses offer a "snapshot of the journey of conversion that we have been on" says the Commission president Cardinal Sean O'Malley of Boston (pictured second from left).

"It is a journey towards a transparent and accountable ministry of safeguarding, towards greater outreach, welcome and support for victims and survivors in their pursuit of justice and healing."

Commission member and sex abuse survivor Juan Carlos Cruz says the report represents a significant step forward and gives him hope for further progress.

"We're using words that we didn't use before. Truth, justice, reparation and a guarantee of non-recurrence...'' he says.

Improvement sought

The report made use of focus groups with clerical abuse survivors who pointed to the main ways the Church has mishandled abuse concerns.

Better access for victims to information about their individual cases is needed, the report says.

It was particularly concerning that victims are often not informed of the outcomes of canonical trials.

In its most critical note, the report called for greater transparency from the Vatican's sex abuse office (the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith) which oversees the Pontifical Commission for Minors.

The Dicastery's "slow processing of cases and secrecy were re-traumatising to victims, and its refusal to publish statistics and its own jurisprudence continues to foment distrust among the faithful, especially the victim/survivor community" the report says.

Source

• AP News
• RNS

As you know, I belonged to the initial Pontifical Commission for the Study of the Diaconate of Women. We were named in August 2016 and first met in November of that year.

I traveled to Rome several days in advance of the scheduled meeting, so I could recover from jet lag.

As soon as I arrived in Rome, I attended the celebrations honouring the three US bishops—they call bishops "monsignors" in Rome—the three US bishops named cardinals then: Blasé Cupich, Kevin Farrell, and Joseph Tobin.

Arriving in Rome

I resided outside the Vatican at the generalate of the LaSalle Christian Brothers for a few days, and on Thanksgiving Day, 2016, I arrived at the Vatican City gate called Porta Sant'Uffizio, in the Palazzo Sant'Uffizio.

That is the Vatican City gate near the building known in English as The Holy Office, where the business of the Congregation, now Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith takes place.

I presented my passport to the Swiss Guard and was permitted through the gate. I walked past Saint Peter's Basilica on the right and the German cemetery on the left, to the guard booth of the Pontifical Gendarmerie, the Vatican military police.

Again, I presented my passport.

The officer looked at the list of expected guests. He looked at me. He looked again at the list. He looked at me. I asked if there was a problem. No madam, he answered.

But you are listed here as "Monsignor Zagano."

He would not let me take a picture of the list.

I proceeded to Domus Sanctae Marthae, the small guest house where Pope Francis lives, and, as a guest of the Holy Father, was saluted as I entered the building.

The desk clerk greeted me, took my passport, and looked at her list which included "Monsignor Zagano."

She looked at me, looked at her list, looked at me, and we both had a good laugh. She let me get a copy of the list.

That was a Thursday, and my first meal at Domus Sanctae Marthae was Thanksgiving dinner with other guests, including an American Nobel Laureate. This, I thought would be some ride.

My Commission met for the next two days, and again in March 2017, September 2017, and June 2018, for a total of eight days over nearly two years. Of course, there were many, many Zoom meetings and emails during those years.

I suppose you would like to know what we gave to the pope.

So, would I.

I'll get to that.

Women - managers not ministers

The question before us this evening concerns the future of women in the Catholic Church.

Please believe me, the future of women in the Catholic Church is the future of the Catholic Church because the future of the Church depends on women.

Women comprise the largest segment of church-going people in the world, Catholic or not.

In the Catholic Church, women staff the Parish Outreach. Women teach Catechism, Women bring their children to church. Women bring their husbands to Mass, at least on Christmas and Easter.

But women at every level of Church life are restricted to management and cannot perform ministry as it is formally understood.

Let me define the terms.

By "management," I mean all the non-ordained and therefore non-ministerial tasks and duties in Church organisations, from parish centers, to diocesan offices, to episcopal conferences, to the papal Curia.

That includes the parish secretary, the diocesan chancellor, the bishops' conference spokesperson, and every employee of every Vatican dicastery. These, except for the jobs (called "offices") that have legal authority over clerics—over deacons, priests, and bishops—these management positions are jobs that any layperson can have.

I am not saying the people in these jobs (or offices) are not "ministering," for they truly perform "ministry" as the term has been enlarged over the past forty years or so.

Yes, the head of the parish religious education program, the organizer of the diocesan CYO, the employees of the USCCB, and the people in the papal Curia are all "ministering" in a sense. But they are not performing sacramental ministry in the classroom, on the playing field, or behind their desks.

So, by "ministry" I mean sacramental ministry, as performed by ordained deacons, priests, and bishops. You know the differences. Deacons may solemnly baptize and witness marriages.

In addition to these sacraments, priests may anoint the sick (give "last rites"), hear confessions and offer absolution, and celebrate the Eucharist.

Performing confirmations is generally restricted to bishops, who sometimes delegate their authority to confirm to priest-pastors.

All these are "clerics," and as such can legally preach at Masses and serve as single judges in canonical proceedings.

So, "Management" is open to women. "Ministry" is not.

It might be helpful to use the distinctions known in military and business organisations: "management" would be "admin", and "ministry" would be "ops."

That is, "management" handles administrative matters, and "ministry" would be the core operations of the organisation.

The analogy may not be perfect, but the important word here is "admin" or "administration." That is what, in his own words, Pope Francis believes women are capable of.

In November 2022, when the pope met in Domus Sanctae Marta with the editors and writers of America Magazine, the journal's executive editor, Kerry Weber, asked him the following question:

Holy Father, as you know, women have contributed and can contribute much to the life of the church. You have appointed many women at the Vatican, which is great.

Nevertheless, many women feel pain because they cannot be ordained priests. What would you say to a woman who is already serving in the life of the church, but who still feels called to be a priest?

Francis' long and thoughtful answer expanded the notion of "ministry" somewhat.

However, he retained the great divide between the ordained and non-ordained, between those people who are central and those people who are not central to the essential operations of the church, to the ordained tasks and duties of performing sacraments, and (because of their ordained status) of preaching and judging.

That is, Pope Francis clearly distinguished the people who can be ordained—men—from those who cannot be ordained—women.

His comments were based on a theoretical construct presented by the long-dead Swiss priest-theologian Hans Urs von Balthasar (1905-1988), a former Jesuit of whom several prominent theologians are critical.

The Petrine Church and the Marian principle

One theologian central to Vatican doctrine since his appointment to the first iteration of the International Theological Commission (ITC) in 1969, Joseph Ratzinger—the future Benedict XVI- said "[von Balthasar] is right in what he teaches of the faith."

Some of what von Balthasar "taught" is what Francis presented to America Magazine: "the Petrine church" and "the Marian principle.' So, the pope said, "The church is a woman. The church is a spouse."

Specifically, in response to the question about ordaining women, Francis distinguished the "ministerial dimension, [which] is that of the Petrine church" from "the Marian principle, which is the principle of femininity (femineidad) in the church, of the woman in the church, where the church sees a mirror of herself because she [the church] is a woman and a spouse."

The pope continued, describing the church as female, and then said, "There is a third way: the administrative way….it is something of normal administration. And, in this aspect, I believe we have to give more space to women."

Francis went on to extol the "functioning" of women in management, summing up his comments by saying, "So there are three principles, two theological and one administrative."

To sum up his belief, the "Petrine principle" covers ministry and the "Marian principle" presents the church as "spouse" and these two so-called "theological principles" are complemented by the "administrative principle" to which women are suited.

Francis concluded by asking, "Why can a woman not enter ordained ministry? It is because the Petrine principle has no place for that."

The Executive Editor of America Magazine, Kerry Weber (a woman) did not ask a follow-up question.

We can return to the question of women in ministry, but let us examine women in management more closely, the idea that women exemplify the "administrative principle" that Francis presented that late November day in 2022.

Management

The Church has advanced somewhat in its inclusion of women in management, in administrative positions in local dioceses.

For example, in the United States today, 54 women serve as diocesan chancellor, an important, non-ministerial position. (c.f. The Official Catholic Directory, Athens, GA: NRP Direct, 2023. There are 28.73% Latin Rite and 11.11% Eastern Rite female chancellors. In Latin Rite dioceses, 23, or 12.71% of chancellors are deacons, none in Eastern Rite dioceses.)

The chancellor is the senior administrative officer, the highest-placed office manager of a diocese, but the chancellor—in his or her role—is not performing "ministry" as it is formally defined, and the chancellor has no jurisdictional authority.

In Rome, especially in the Roman Curia, the question of women in managerial or administrative positions gets complicated.

We know women have been appointed to positions in the Curia, but these appointments are not to offices with jurisdiction. It is important to remember that only persons with jurisdiction can make decisions.

The easiest way to understand the situation is to look at the Instrumentum Laboris—the working document-for the coming session of the Synod of Bishops this October (2024):

In a synodal Church, the responsibility of the bishop, the College of bishops and the Roman Pontiff to make decisions is inalienable since it is rooted in the hierarchical structure of the Church established by Christ." (IL #70)

Listen carefully: "the responsibility…to make decisions is inalienable since it is rooted in the hierarchical structure of the Church."

And who makes up the hierarchy? The hierarchy is the ordained men of the Church.

The paragraph asserting the "inalienable" right of the clergy to make decisions underscores the "you discern, we decide" fact of ecclesiastical discipline, of church law.

Its roots are in Canons 129 and 274 of the Code of Canon Law. (Can. 129 §1. Those who have received sacred orders are qualified, according to the norm of the prescripts of the law, for the power of governance, which exists in the Church by divine institution and is also called the power of jurisdiction. §2. Lay members of the Christian faithful can cooperate in the exercise of this same power according to the norm of law. Can. 274 §1. Only clerics can obtain offices for whose exercise the power of orders or the power of ecclesiastical governance is required.)

Canon 129 states that ordained persons are qualified for the powers of governance and jurisdiction, and that lay persons can "cooperate" in this power.

Canon 274 states that only clerics can obtain offices requiring the power of orders or governance (or jurisdiction.)

But this same paragraph in the coming Synod meeting's Instrumentum Laboris later goes on to give ample room to the actual process of synodal discernment and it even throws a lifeline to the non-ordained of the Church.

The paragraph ends by suggesting the Code of Canon Law restricting the non-ordained to a "consultative vote only" (tantum consultivum) should be, in its words, "corrected."

It remains to be seen what correction could be made. As the synodal processes in Australia and Germany, for example, have proven, requests for change meet great resistance, and at least in the case of Germany rebuke, from Rome.

Having said all this, we must acknowledge the fact that there are more women in more responsible managerial roles in the Roman Curia than during prior pontificates.

The Roman Curia comprises the staff offices for Pope Francis, each managing a specific part of the Church's organisational needs, for example, the choosing of bishops, matters involving other clergy and religious, oversight of finances, and the operations of Vatican City State, from managing the library and museums to overseeing the pope's representatives (called papal nuncios) abroad, etc.

In the Roman Curia, there are sixteen curial offices called dicasteries.

There are also the Secretariate of State, three Institutions of Justice (Apostolic Penitentiary, the Supreme Tribunal, the Tribunal of the Roman Rota), four Institutions of Finance (Council for the Economy, Secretariat for the Economy, the Office of the Auditor General, and the Administration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic See (A.P.S.A.)).

Of these, only A.P.S.A. has a woman undersecretary, Sister Silvana Piro, F.M.G.B

Curial offices with women as senior officers include:

• the Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life (Secretary Sister Simona Brambilla, M.C.; Under Secretary Sister Carmen Ros Nortes, N.S.C.),
• the Dicastery for the Laity, the Family, and Life (Under Secretaries Dr. Linda Ghisoni and Dr. Gabriella Gambino),
• the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development (Secretary, Sister Alessandra Smerilli, FMA). These women hold paid professional appointments.

Other dicasteries of the Roman Curia have women who are termed "members," and who, alongside clerics (usually cardinals and bishops), largely act as trustees for the dicasteries' work and who meet in Rome from time to time.

All dicasteries have female staff who assist with day-to-day operations, as clerks, secretaries, and translators, but clerics retain the overall organisational power in the Vatican.

While women are also members of Councils and Commissions, for the most part, these are not full-time professional appointments. For example, one of Pope Francis' initial endeavors was to regularise Vatican finances, and so within one year of his election, he established the Council for the Economy, as mentioned earlier.

The title of Pope Francis's Apostolic Letter establishing the Council for the Economy as a dicastery of the Roman Curia is Fidelis Dispensator et Prudens, (faithful and wise manager).

The fifteen-member Council for the Economy has consistently maintained a clerical majority and is coordinated by a cardinal. However, its website describes seven members as "experts of various nationalities, with financial expertise and recognised professionalism," and six of those seven are women, each a financial professional.

Its deputy coordinator, Dr Charlotte Kreuter-Kirchhof, is a law professor who is also an advisor to the "Women in Church and Society" sub-commission of the Pastoral Commission of the German Bishops' Conference.

As you move down the Vatican's wire diagram to the groups with a consultative role, more women are present in "titled" roles.

The Secretary for the Pontifical Commission for Latin America is Argentinian Dr Emilce Cuda, and the Adjunct Secretary for the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors is American Dr Teresa Kettelkamp.

The Secretary of the Pontifical Biblical Commission is Spaniard Dr Nuria Calduch-Benages, a well-known biblical scholar and professor at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome.

Dr Calduch-Benages is the unpaid Secretary of the Pontifical Biblical Commission. I do not know if Dr Cuda or Dr Kettlekamp is paid.

You see, not every Vatican appointment comes with a salary.

The voluntary nature of participation in certain positions in the Vatican increases as the commissions and institutes that are ad hoc, or adjunct, to one or another dicastery proliferate.

While participation is unpaid, travel expenses are covered, including (if needed) a few nights' lodging in Domus Sanctae Marthae. However, budgetary and language restrictions within the Vatican cause a significant default to choosing participants and members already residing in Rome and its environs.

And it is important to recall that women -whether secular or religious women - have no guarantee of ecclesiastical salaries outside their voluntary Vatican work.

So even if chosen, it is sometimes difficult for a woman to accept a consultative Vatican appointment.

So, yes, there are many women involved in Vatican operations. Those central to actual management functions of the Curia are salaried Italian women, including many religious sisters, and others fluent in Italian.

Those in more consultative roles are from a larger pool of qualified individuals. Those in even more peripheral positions, such as the members of the two Pontifical Commissions for the Study of the Diaconate of Women, include more women.

But even the commission I served on was comprised of members of other, more permanent Vatican commissions, or they were members of university faculties in Rome. Except me. I was the only member of my commission with no Roman or Vatican connection.

Ministry

The Commission I served on was about ministry as the Vatican formally defined it then and how the Vatican realistically defines it to this day. If you ask the folks at Merriam-Webster, "ministry" comprises the office, duties, or functions of a minister.

That is, ministry is about the office, duties, or functions of a member of the clergy.

As I noted earlier, Pope Francis seems to depend on categories invented by Hans Urs von Balthasar, categories the pope calls "theological."

He said the ministerial dimension is that of the Petrine church and the Marian principle is the principle of femininity in the Church. That appears to eliminate women.

As grating as these categories are, it is important at this point to recall how Pope Francis has referred to women from the very beginning of his pontificate.

In May 2013, during his first address to the International Union of Superiors General, Francis recommended that the sisters be mothers, not old maids.

His repeated "jokes" and other comments about women have fallen flat time after time.

Who can forget his calling women theologians the "strawberries on the cake"? That was ten years ago, but it signaled one way Francis saw women professionals then.

What about now?

Francis has repeated his feminine analogies about the Church.

Just last March, in an address to participants in a conference entitled "Women in the Church: Builders of Humanity," the pope said, "The Church is herself a woman: a daughter, a bride and a mother."

While the qualities he attributes to women are laudable for everyone, he emphasises two aspects of "women's vocation": style and education. He notes that "style" includes the ability "to bring love where love is lacking, and humanity where human beings are searching to find their true identity."

He speaks directly to the conference participants about "education," expressing his hope that "educational settings, in addition to being places of study, research and learning, places of ‘information,' will also be places of ‘formation,' where minds and hearts are opened to the promptings of the Holy Spirit."

Without digressing to the 1967 Land O'Lakes Statement and its controversy or Pope John Paul II's Apostolic Constitution Ex Corde Ecclesiae on Catholic universities, I must note here the distinction between theology and apologetics, as well as the tasks and duties of the diaconate.

As for Catholic education, the fact of the formative influence of Catholic education cannot be disparaged nor denied, but theology is not apologetics.

As for the diaconate, the deacon is ordained to the ministries of the Word, the liturgy, and charity. If we consider the historical position of the deacon as the principal coordinator of the charity of the Church, then the duty of the deacon to proclaim and preach the Word in the liturgy becomes evident.

If we apply the pope's words to the diaconal ministry of women throughout the centuries, in the West up through the mid-12th century, we can see that it was women deacons who brought love where love was lacking and who provided formation to women and children.

We know women were ordained in Lucca, Italy in the mid-1100s, but realistically in the 12th century, no person who was not destined for priestly ordination could be ordained deacon.

Since by that time, most women deacons were monastics, with few serving as what might be termed "social service" deacons, and because the diaconate as exercised by men had become mostly ceremonial and generally moribund, the sacramental ordination of women to the diaconate ceased in the West.

I spoke at length about women in management. But what about women in ministry?

It is impossible to ignore Pope Francis' emphatic "no" when he was asked in a CBS television interview about the sacramental ordination of women as deacons.

He seemed to support his "no" with his opinion that the "deaconesses" in the early church—and "deaconess" is the word he used—that the "deaconesses" in the early church served diaconal "functions" without being sacramentally ordained.

That understanding is not supported by scholarship.

A little recent history

Since 1971, the Church has, at various times and various levels, directly discussed the ordination of women as deacons.

In 1971, the second meeting of the Synod of Bishops included substantial discussion about women in ordained ministry.

By 1973, Pope Paul VI established a Commission on the Role of Women in Church and in Society, which met intermittently over a period of two years. In that Commission, the question of women priests was immediately off the table.

But at its first meeting, one of the commission's fourteen women members asked to discuss women deacons.

The Commission's president, an Italian archbishop, immediately closed the discussion.

He said the diaconate was a stage of orders directly connected to the priesthood—this argument would soon be termed the "unicity of orders" -and therefore women deacons could not be considered.

Even so, he augmented the commission's final two-page report with a seven-page private memorandum to Pope Paul VI, which was much more positive about women deacons.

Meanwhile, in 1969 the International Theological Commission had been created to address questions of doctrine.

The world's foremost (male) theologians gathered in Rome on occasion to discuss pressing issues for the Church.

Women in ministry soon became one of those pressing issues, and the Secretary of the International Theological Commission, perhaps at the suggestion of the Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, named a small sub-group of theologians to study the female diaconate.

Their discussion was quite positive—even Yves Congar thought the ordination of women as deacons was possible—but despite some members urging a positive vote on the question, none was taken, the question was tabled, and the ITC proceeded to write a document that opined women could not be ordained as priests.

The official commentary to that document stated that the question of women deacons would be left for "further study."

Academic debate continued, and there remained no consensus as to whether the women deacons of history were sacramentally ordained.

However, to say the women of history were not sacramentally ordained would be to dispute the intent of the ordaining bishops, who used the same ritual for women deacons as for men deacons.

The formal rituals used to ordain women were performed within the Mass, where the persons to be ordained as deacons—whether male or female—were ordained by the bishop inside the sanctuary, through the laying on of hands with the epiclesis (or calling down of the Holy Spirit); they were invested with a stole, self-communicated from the chalice, and the bishop called them deacons.

That is, both male and female candidates were ordained in identical ceremonies and were called deacons, or, in some languages, the women deacons were called "deaconesses."

So, why could women not be ordained today?

Several reasons are given, all of which fall to either logic, history, or both. They are,

• Women deacons were blessed but not "ordained";
• "Deaconess" always means the wife of a deacon;
• Male and female deacons had different functions;
• The unicity of orders limits ordination to men (cursus honorum);
• Women cannot image Christ (iconic argument);
• Women are not valid subjects for ordination;
• Women are "unclean" and restricted from the sanctuary.

Since the 17th century, scholars have argued over the history of women deacons, one or another questioning whether the women deacons of history were sacramentally ordained.

In the 17th century, one scholar, Jean Morin, studied all the existing liturgies in Latin, Greek, and the languages of Syria and Babylonia.

He determined that the liturgies met the criteria for sacramental ordination set forth by the Council of Trent.

A century later, another writer disagreed.

When we arrive at the 1970s, the question of women in the church, especially the question of women priests, was in the air.

Nothing came of the work of the ITC sub-commission, except one member, Cipriano Vagaggini published a long and dense article stating his positive view.

Vagaggini was so well thought of, that the 1987 Synod of Bishops asked his opinion on women deacons, which he freely shared.

After reminding the assembled bishops that in 1736, when Pope Benedict XIV approved ordained women deacons in the Catholic Maronite tradition, he permitted them to administer the sacrament of extreme unction within their monasteries, Vagaggini continued:

If that is the case, one senses the legitimacy and urgency for competent authorities to admit women to the sacrament of order of the diaconate and to grant them all the functions, even the liturgical functions that, in the present historical moment of the church, are considered necessary for the greater benefit of believers, not excluding—as I personally maintain—if it is judged pastorally appropriate, equality between the liturgical functions of men deacons and women deacons. (- Cipriano Vagaggini, "The Deaconess in the Byzantine Tradition" in Women Deacons? Essays with Answers, Phyllis Zagano, ed. Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 2016, 96-99, at 99.)

His recommendation went nowhere, and around that time I was told in Rome by the highest placed women in the Curia that "they can't say ‘no'; they just don't want to say ‘yes'".

The discussion continued and was picked up by the 1992-1997 ITC, which again formed a subcommittee and again found in favor of restoring women to the ordained diaconate.

Their 17-page document was printed, numbered, and voted on, but not promulgated. The ITC president objected. He was then the prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. He was Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger.

So, the question went to yet another ITC subcommittee, which in 2002 published a paper stating that the question was "up to the Magisterium" to decide.

Nothing happened.

Until, in 2016, the International Union of Superiors General (UISG) asked Pope Francis to form another Commission. And so I went to Rome that following November in 2016.

There was another pontifical commission, which met twice for one week each, in September of 2021 and July of 2022.

The Synod on Synodality

The first session of the current Synod on Synodality asked for the reports of each Commission because in synodal discussion some felt ordaining women as deacons would restore a tradition, while others disagreed.

The Synod stated that questions about women were "urgent," and so, one of the ten "study groups" charged by the pope and the Synod office to provide detailed reports to Synod members was charged with the question of women deacons.

Meanwhile, as I mentioned, in his televised interview with CBS-TV's Norah O'Donnell, the pope said "no" to women deacons.

Specifically, he denied the possibility to Norah O'Donnell, who asked him:

Norah O'Donnell (23:05): I understand you have said no women as priests, but you are studying the idea of women as deacons. Is that something you are open to?

Translator (23:15): No. If it is deacons with holy orders, no. But women have always had, I would say the function of deaconesses without being deacons, right? Women are of great service as women, not as ministers. As ministers in this regard. Within the Holy Orders.

That could be the end of it, or not. I am attempting to get the Spanish recording or the Spanish transcript.

What did the pope understand?

Was he being asked about the diaconate as a preliminary step to the priesthood?

On the face of it, his response is wholly incorrect.

There was no distinction between women deacons and deaconesses throughout history. It is a fact that some, if not all, were sacramentally ordained.

What the Church has done the Church can do again.

And the Church has done it.

On May 2, the Greek Orthodox Church of Zimbabwe ordained a woman deacon—they prefer the term "deaconess"—using the liturgy it uses for ordaining men as deacons.

The ordaining prelate, Metropolitan Seraphim, just changed the pronouns.

We know that Synod reports from every corner of the world ask the Church to recognise the baptismal equality of all people.

While women are increasingly added to church management, the only response to requests for women deacons has been Pope Francis' televised "no."

We sit and wonder what the future holds.

I cannot tell you what my Commission did.

Despite my three requests to the Commission president, then-Archbishop Luis Ladaria, twice in writing and once in person, I have not seen what he gave Pope Francis in the name of the Commission I served on.

I can tell you one thing, however.

After our first meeting formally closed, I asked to say just one more thing, to the group and to the Commission president.

I said: "When I arrived at the Vatican, I was listed on the guest list as ‘Monsignor Zagano.'"

One member asked: "If she's a monsignor, what are we doing here?"

Exactly.

• Phyllis Zagano, Ph.D. is senior research associate-in-residence and adjunct professor of religion at Hofstra University, Hempstead, New York.
• Transcript from Rita Cassella Jones Lecture at Fordham of September 17, 2024.