The initiative seeks to respond to women's longstanding demands to have a greater say in Church life.

Church reform

The Dicastery of the Doctrine of the Faith says the new document will form its contribution to Pope Francis' Church reform process, the Synod on Synodality.

The Synod is entering its second main phase with the next meeting of bishops this coming October.

The Vatican announced the details of the doctrinal document shortly after its news conference.

That conference - which four men led - described the preparatory work for the October meeting. Media were not given the opportunity to ask questions.

The smallest gesture

A group pressing for women's ordination promptly dismissed the new doctrinal document as "crumbs".

They noted ordained men would again be making decisions about women's roles in the Church.

Members of ten study groups will be looking into some tough, legally complicated issues that have arisen in the reform process to date.

These include the role of women and LGBTQ+ Catholics in the life of the church.

Unequal work, contribution and rights

Catholic women reportedly do most of the Church's work in schools and hospitals. They also tend to be those more likely to pass the faith on to future generations.

But many complain of a second-class status in a Church which reserves the priesthood for men only.

Francis has reaffirmed the ban on women priests but has appointed several women to senior Vatican positions.

He also encourages debate on other ways to hear women's voices.

The synod process is once such place, as women there have the right to vote on specific proposals. Voting rights until now have been restricted to men.

Francis had appointed two commissions to study whether women could be ordained deacons - those who can, though not priests, perform many priestly functions.

They may preside at weddings, baptisms and funerals, and preach. They cannot celebrate Mass.

Women respond

The Women's Ordination Conference says relegating the women deacons issue to the doctrine office doesn't suggest the Church is looking to involve women any more than now.

"The urgency to affirm women's full and equal place in the Church cannot be swept away, relegated to a shadowy commission or entrusted into the hands of ordained men at the Vatican" the women protest.

These groups will be working with the Vatican after the synod, suggesting this year's results may not be final.

After the 2023 session the synod summary made no mention of homosexuality, although the working document had specifically noted calls for a greater welcoming of "LGBTQ+ Catholics" and other marginalised people into the Church.

Instead, the summary said people who feel marginalised because of their marital situation, "identity and sexuality, ask to be listened to and accompanied, and their dignity defended".

Francis has since approved priests blessing same-sex couples.

Source

• AP News

The archbishop, an Argentine, had been since 2018 the Archbishop of La Plata, and was before that the rector of Argentina's Catholic University — a role to which he was appointed by then-Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio.

Widely regarded as the author of the 2016 apostolic exhortation Amoris Laetitia, Fernandez has long been a close collaborator of the pope.

Since his July 1 appointment, Fernandez has made waves — because of comments on the possibility of same-sex liturgical blessings, his handling of abuse allegations, and because of "Heal me with your mouth," a 1995 book the archbishop wrote on the subject of kissing.

Amid those waves, Pope Francis named Fernandez a cardinal July 9 — he will officially join the College of Cardinals in late September.

In an interview by email July 17, Fernandez offered his assessment of the moral landscape, and discussed his mandate in the Church, and his sense of the place and moment of Catholic theology.

Pillar: What, in your opinion, are the three or four central moral questions facing the Church at this moment in history? What is the role of the DDF in addressing them? What is the pope's approach to these issues?

Fernandez :If we talk only about morality, I would say these four:

• The absolute primacy of grace and charity in Catholic moral theology.
• The inalienable dignity of each human person, and the consequences of that.
• The preferential option for the poor, the last, and those abandoned by society.
• The individualistic, hedonistic and egocentric approaches to life that make the option for marriage, family and the common good difficult.

But we would be off to a bad start if we separated morality from theology.

We should remember that for Francis, moral issues must be approached with the great announcement of the kerygma: a Father who loves us and who seeks our human fulfillment, reflected in a Christ who saved us, who saves us today, and now lives to communicate his new life to us.

Pillar: In his letter to you on your appointment, Pope Francis said that previously, the [DDF], "rather than promoting theological knowledge, possible doctrinal errors were pursued. What I expect from you is certainly something very different," something you have since called a "turning point.

However, Praedicate evangelium, also written by Pope Francis says that the DDF "works to ensure that errors and dangerous teachings circulating among the Christian people do not go without suitable rebuttal."

These two documents seem to present different views of the role of the DDF in the safeguarding of doctrine. How do you think they can be reconciled? What is your approach to your appointment at the DDF?

Fernandez: Look, if you read the pope's letter carefully, it is clear that at no time does he say that the function of refuting errors should disappear.

Obviously, if someone says that Jesus is not a real man or that all immigrants should be killed, that will require strong intervention.

But at the same time, that [intervention] can be an opportunity to grow, to enrich our understanding.

For example, in those cases, it would be necessary to accompany that person in their legitimate intention to better show the divinity of Jesus Christ, or it will be necessary to talk about some imperfect, incomplete or problematic immigration legislation.

In the letter, the pope says very explicitly that the dicastery has to "guard" the teaching of the Church. Only that at the same time - and this is his right - he asks me for a greater commitment to help the development of thought, such as when difficult questions arise, because growth is more effective than control.

Heresies were eradicated better and faster when there was adequate theological development, and they spread and perpetuated when there were only condemnations.

But Francis also asks me to help collect the recent magisterium, and this evidently includes his own. It is part of what must be "guarded." Read more

• Edgar Beltrán is a philosopher and political scientist from Maracaibo, Venezuela. He is doing a Master's in Philosophy of Religion at Radboud University in Nijmegen, the Netherlands.