In an unprecedented decision that shows the will of Pope Francis to give more responsibility to women in the Church, the Pontiff has decided to grant the right to vote to women and lay people who are elected to participate as members in the next Synod of Bishops. This is an important change that will affect these periodic meetings of bishops, especially before the Synod on synodality, an assembly that is being prepared these years and that will culminate in two meetings in Rome in October 2023 and 2024.
Until now, only bishops could vote on the final document. The organizers of the Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod have announced that, with the new changes, five religious will join five priests as voting representatives of the religious orders. In this way, ten clerics will be “replaced by five religious women and five religious belonging to Institutes of consecrated life, elected by the respective representative organizations of the superiors general and superiors general” and with the right to vote.
It is a historical claim of women with which Francis reflects his desire to give more responsibility to women and lay people in decision-making in the Catholic Church.
A historical claim of women
For decades, women have been demanding the right to vote in synods, the next of which is scheduled for October. In February 2021, the Pontiff elected a woman for the first time as undersecretary of the Synod of Bishops, the French nun Nathalie Becquart, who was accompanied in this position by the Spanish of the Order of Saint Augustine, Luis Marín de San Martín. The nun, born in Fontainebleau (France) in 1969, was the first woman to hold this position. Becquart was able to vote at the February 2021 meeting, but she actually did so in her capacity as her undersecretary.
In addition, the Pontiff has decided that the laity, men and women, who participate in the Synod will also have the right to vote. Thus, it has eliminated the figure of the auditors in the assembly and, in its place, has added “another 70 members, not bishops, who represent other faithful” and, among them, “priests, consecrated persons, deacons or lay faithful and who come from the local Churches”.
The organizers of the Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod hope that half of these new members – who will be chosen by the Pope from a list of 140 people indicated during the International meetings of the Episcopal Conferences and the Assembly of Patriarchs of the Eastern Catholic Churches – are women and specify that all of them will have the right to vote.
The laity who participate in the Synod will also have the right to vote
“When identifying them, it will be necessary to take into account not only their general culture and prudence, but also their knowledge, both theoretical and practical, as well as their participation in various capacities in the synodal process”, they reported from the General Assembly Ordinary of the Synod.
Since the Second Vatican Council, the meetings of the 1960s that modernized the Church, the Popes have summoned the world’s bishops to Rome for a few weeks to discuss specific issues. At the end of the meetings, the bishops vote on concrete proposals and present them to the Pope, who draws up a document that takes their opinions into account. Until now, only men could vote.
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However, for Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich, one of the main organizers of the Synod, “it is an important change, it is not a revolution.” The also Archbishop of Luxembourg, has explained his reluctance to use the term “revolution” by commenting that, in books on the History of France, revolution is spoken of with “voices in favor” and “voices against”.
“Revolutions divide, they demand victims. On the other hand, we do not want victims, we want to move forward together,” he assured. Therefore, according to Hollerich, if the Church finds a synodal way to manage divergences in communion and walk together, it is rendering “a great service” to the world.
About 21% of the representatives at the meeting will not be bishops
For his part, Cardinal Mario Grech, head of the Synod, stressed that, with the changes that the Pope has applied, around 21% of the representatives gathered at the meeting will not be bishops and half of that group will be women.
The two Vatican prelates have stressed that the participation of such diverse ecclesial realities in the Synod ensures the existing dialogue between the prophecy of the People of God and the discernment of pastors. The October assembly was preceded by an unprecedented two-year poll and survey of the lay Catholic faithful about their vision of the Church and how it can best respond to the needs of Catholics today.
