Francis' new apostolic constitution, "Praedicate Evangelium" ("Preach the Gospel"), issued last month, noted that the heads of dicasteries and other offices that manage the church need not be ordained.

This highlighted Francis' stated aim to give "more space" to women in the church.

Most of the important dicasteries are as a matter of fact headed by cardinals.

But if any Catholic can head a curial office, the question becomes, does the title come with the job?

More importantly, is the title needed to do the job?

If the main duty of a cardinal is to be an adviser to the pope, and there is no ordination required, it could make sense to restart the tradition of lay cardinals and to include women in the mix.

Since the 16th century, cardinals have come mostly from the ranks of priests and bishops, but this has not always been the case.

Some Spanish and Italian royals were created cardinals in the medieval church. More recently, Pope Pius IX named the curial lawyer Teodolfo Mertel a cardinal, two months before ordaining him deacon in 1858.

Mertel was not exactly a lay cardinal — he received clerical tonsure, a rite just short of ordination, in his late 30s — but he remained a cardinal deacon for the rest of his life.

As auditor of the papal treasury, he oversaw a good part of the Vatican's money.

There is even historical evidence of female deacons doing much the same. A sixth-century inscription recalls the Deacon Anna, who, with her brother, appears to have served as the treasurer of Rome.

Under the 1917 Code of Canon Law, however, anyone named cardinal was required to be at least a priest.

The 1983 version of the code dictates that in addition to being chosen from among men who are at least priests, new cardinals are to accept ordination as bishops.

Appointing a layman or woman would require a change to, or at least a dispensation from, the law.

Yet in the late 1960s, Pope Paul VI considered making the French philosopher Jacques Maritain a lay cardinal, an idea Maritain himself rejected.

There is a rumour that Mother Teresa turned down Pope John Paul II when he asked her to become a cardinal.

So lay and female cardinals are not beyond the realm of possibility.

The question is, would it make any difference?

It would certainly be interesting.

Lay or deacon cardinals would be admitted to the College of Cardinals, which since 1179 has elected the next pope. It's highly unlikely a lay or female cardinal would be elected the bishop of Rome.

But Francis has already named a layman, former journalist Paolo Ruffini, to head the Dicastery for Communication, and the pope's emphasis on the church's mission of evangelization signals that his choice of personnel — male or female, married or single, ordained or not — depends solely on an ability and willingness to do the job within that context.

The message of "Praedicate Evangelium" is that becoming a cardinal is secondary and relative only to how gaining the title would or would not advance the task at hand.

That includes expanding management and ministry to laypeople.

That also includes telling the world that women are equally talented and capable human beings.

So, has the time come for female cardinals?

Maybe so, maybe no. But it is a new church.

• Phyllis Zagano is a senior research associate and adjunct professor of religion at Hofstra University and was a member of the 2016-2018 Pontifical Commission for the Study of Women in the Diaconate. She is the author, most recently, of "Women: Icons of Christ" and "Women Religious, Women Deacons: Questions and Answers."
• First published in RNS. Republished with permission.

During the interview, he envisioned that "the Holy See will one day be led by the Pope surrounded by a college of cardinals in which there would be women."

The Rheims archbishop's musings reminded me of many years ago when I was much younger, and older Catholics were first daring to discuss the ordination of women.

Invariably the debates about the probability of ordained women surrendered to the question of whether such ordination was possible.

Here arguments against the possibility were raised by invoking pervasive misogyny, local cultures, theology, canon law, the Bible and even the intentionality of Jesus at the last supper!

After exhausting a host of objections to the possible, invariably a senior in the room would suggest, "Why not make women cardinals?"

This often prompted quizzical stares from mostly everyone, but the clever proponent would remind them that until recently there were, indeed, lay cardinals. "They didn't have to be ordained," the proponent would expertly conclude.

It was only a hundred years ago that the "new" Code of Canon Law (1917) decreed that cardinals had to be ordained.

Before that they were either from the laity or the ordained, though clearly the majority were the latter.

Ordination was introduced, in part, to correct abuse in the appointment of cardinals.

For instance, in 1735, Pope Clement XII made Luis Antonio de Borbón, son of King Felipe V of Spain, a cardinal, he was 8 years old. Ordination would give some surety that the person was an adult and theologically educated.

In 1983, the code required that cardinals be bishops.

We should not think, however, that these laws negated the possibility of popes making lay cardinals.

While we can rarely know what a pope intends to do, until he discloses it, there have been fairly consistent reports that Pope Paul VI wanted to or actually offered to make the French philosopher Jacques Maritain one, and later that Pope John Paul II offered the appointment to Mother Teresa.

Both persons reportedly declined the offer.

Moreover, in 2013 on these pages Jesuit Fr Frederico Lombardi, director of the Holy See's press office, commented that women cardinals were "theologically and theoretically … possible."

Like my seniors 50 years ago, he added, "Being a cardinal is one of those roles in the church for which, theoretically, you do not have to be ordained."

He said this, however, to quell speculation that a woman would be among those named for the next consistory.

Why should women cardinals matter?

Like the discussions 50 years ago, the Rheims archbishop's comments remind us of a variety of ways that the laity in general and women, in particular, can and should exercise authority and leadership in the church.

He entertained the question of women deacons, but he was much more interested in the diversity of leadership roles in the church that were not being filled by the laity nor especially by women whether religious or lay.

Thus he noted that he was "completely flabbergasted" that non-ordained religious brothers could vote at the Synod of Bishops' meetings, but women could not.

Reminding us that the ordained "are in principle neither more learned nor closer to God than the laity," he added, "The voice of all the baptized laity, from the moment they try to embrace Christianity, should be able to count as much as that of the clergy."

Then he turned to the question of competency: "Nothing prevents them from holding many more important functions in the workings of the institution, with everything being a matter of competence." Continue reading

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

Irish Times

Daily Mail

Independent

Image: Getty Images/Irish Times