ROME (AP) – A French nun who has become the first woman to hold a voting office in the Vatican, said on Wednesday that her appointment is proof that the ‘patriarchal mindset is changing’ as more and more women take high-level decision-making responsibilities participate in the Catholic hierarchy.
Sister Nathalie Becquart said at a press conference that her appointment as undersecretary to the office of the Vatican Synod of Bishops was a “ courageous signal and prophetic decision ” from Pope Francis, who has repeatedly emphasized the need for women to have more say in church government. .
Women have long complained that they have second-class status in the Catholic Church, where the priesthood and top offices of the Vatican, including the papacy itself, are reserved for men.
Francis appointed Becquart and a Spanish theologian, Reverend Luis Marín de San Martín, as undersecretaries during the weekend in the office that organizes thematic weeklong meetings of bishops in the Vatican.
The meetings, known as synods and usually taking place every two to three years, have become increasingly important under Francis, given his call for more decentralized and collegial leadership, focusing more on the local bishops than on the Holy Chair.
Francis has appointed about half a dozen women to undersecretary positions in various Vatican congregations, but Becquart’s appointment brought with it a special, and in a sense, historic novelty: she is likely to have the right to vote in the next Synod of Bishops, scheduled for 2022. , given her professional rank.
“A door has been opened,” the head of the Bishops’ Synod, Maltese Cardinal Mario Grech, told the Vatican’s internal media. “We will then see what other steps can be taken in the future.”
It was a reference to calls to give female religious superiors, who also participate in synods of bishops, the right to vote on proposals that are of urgent importance to the life of the Church. The religious sisters are allowed to speak and participate in the episcopal debate, but are not allowed to vote.
Their calls took public form at a 2018 Synod of Bishops on Youth, with prominent nuns calling for the vote and a popular movement promoted by progressive women’s groups #VotesForCatholicWomen.
As a result, Becquart’s appointment was received with praise, but also with some bitterness that in 2021 it is actually newsworthy that a lonely woman, along with hundreds of male bishops, can vote on the future life of the Catholic Church.