In the News

Church reform groups and theologians say they are finding hope in the new Vatican document setting the stage for the upcoming Synod of Bishops in October, even as many harbor reservations or skepticism about the possible outcomes of the synod itself. The document, released June 20, mentioned many topics previously considered taboo in similar high-level conversations,…
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Pope Francis says women will be allowed to vote on a Vatican panel that had been exclusively male. NPR’s Scott Simon asks Kate McElwee of the Women’s Ordination Conference about it.

The latest move, however, represents a welcome, if long overdue, step in the right direction, a “significant crack in the stained glass ceiling,” as Kate McElwee director of the Women’s Ordination Conference put it.Read the full editorial here.

Theologians and Catholic Church reform groups are praising Pope Francis’ decision to expand participation in the upcoming Synod of Bishops on synodality to include laypersons as full, voting members for the first time. In NCR interviews after the Vatican’s announcement of the change on April 26, several prominent experts characterized the move as a substantial development…. …The Vatican’s decision…
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Rome (CNN) — Pope Francis will allow women to participate and vote for the first time at an upcoming meeting of Catholic bishops in October. The meeting, known as a synod, normally only allows bishops to vote. Pope Francis on Wednesday approved guidelines that will expand participation and voting to include lay people and women…. …The US-based Women’s Ordination Conference advocates…
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Dozens of women will be allowed to vote at an upcoming meeting of bishops, Pope Francis has decided, in a landmark move aimed at broadening female and laypeople voices in the male-exclusive life of the Catholic Church. … …“This is a significant crack in the stained glass ceiling, and the result of sustained advocacy, activism…
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Women will be allowed to vote at a key meeting for Catholics, the Synod of Bishops, for the first time in October after a decision by Pope Francis. The pope’s changes were announced Wednesday through the Vatican’s news website. They represent a “significant crack in the stained glass ceiling,” Kate McElwee, executive director of the Women’s…
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Pope Francis has approved changes that will allow women to vote at a global meeting of bishops for the first time. Women’s groups in the Catholic church – who have for years been demanding the right to vote at the high-profile synods – praised the move as historic, for an institution that has been male-dominated…
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VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis has decided to give women the right to vote at an upcoming meeting of bishops, an historic reform that reflects his hopes to give women greater decision-making responsibilities and laypeople more say in the life of the Catholic Church. Francis approved changes to the norms governing the Synod of…
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Pope Francis ordered unprecedented changes Wednesday for the Vatican’s upcoming bishops conference, for the first time providing women the right to vote and expanding access to the faithful who are not clergy. Changes include allowing participation of 70 non-bishop members at the Synod of Bishops set for Oct. 10 from each of the seven regional conferences around…
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