The Vatican on Sunday dismissed as “nonsense” Irish media reports that Pope Francis might nominate two Irish women as cardinals.
Vatican spokesman Fr Federico Lombardi said: “This is just nonsense… It is simply not a realistic possibility that Pope Francis will name women cardinals for the February consistory.”
The Vatican statement came after reports said Pope Francis might name both TCD ecumenics Prof Linda Hogan and former president Mary McAleese as cardinals.
“Theologically and theoretically, it is possible,” Lombardi said. “Being a cardinal is one of those roles in the church for which, theoretically, you do not have to be ordained but to move from there to suggesting the pope will name women cardinals for the next consistory is not remotely realistic.”
Since his election last March, Pope Francis has often spoken of the need to reassess the role of women in the Catholic Church.
In an interview with Jesuit media last August, the pope said that “the church cannot be herself without woman”, adding that Mary “is more important than the bishops”.
In a September article, Juan Arias, a former Vatican correspondent for Spanish daily El Pais, floated the idea that one day, the pope might nominate a woman cardinal. Arias, who named no women candidates, based his speculation not only on Pope Francis’s comments but also on the role of the deaconess in the early Christian church.
That article, however, prompted further speculation both in Italian and US religious media, with US Jesuit Fr James Keenan of the theology department at Boston College even using his Facebook page to solicit suggestions for the first woman cardinal. It is in that context that the names of Ms McAleese as well as Prof Hogan and the Italian minister for integration, Cecile Kyenge, emerged.
Sources
Image: Getty Images/Irish Times