“Women in the church are more important than bishops and priests,” the pope insisted in July. “That’s what we have to try to explain better, because I believe we don’t have a way of making that explicit theologically.” Here’s the key point: When Francis talks about “more space” for women, it’s less about creating new Read more
Domestic violence has spiked over Christmas – New Year in Fiji. Fiji Women’s Crisis Centre says it has received reports of 120 cases of violence against women in the past eight days. The news comes less than a month after the Fiji Women’s Crisis centre released the results of a survey that showed 64 per Read more
New Zealand Parliament’s Māori protocols are under review after two senior Labour women MP’s were asked to move from the front row during a welcome ceremony to visitors. In seeking the review Speaker, David Carter, says he wants to “modernise” the protocols making them acceptable to a diversified Parliament. The review was prompted by Parliament’s longest serving Read more
Pope Francis has ruled out the possibility of female cardinals in an exclusive interview with the Italian daily newspaper, La Stampa. Speaking to the Vatican expert, Andrea Tornielli, in response to rumours earlier this year that Pope Francis was going to appoint a female cardinal, the Pope said: “I don’t know where this idea sprang Read more
In her article in The New York Times, “Sex on Campus: She Can Play That Game, Too,” Kate Taylor describes a world of ambitious Penn undergraduates who put their personal interests and their resumes first. Many have chosen to avoid romantic relationships during college entirely in favour of “hooking up,” no strings attached. As they Read more
Pope Francis has said he suffers when he sees women in a role of servitude in Church organisations, instead of the servanthood to which all Christians are called. “I suffer — speaking truthfully! — when I see in the Church or in some ecclesial organisations that the role of service that we all have, and Read more
In preparing to publish their historic 12,000-word interview with Pope Francis, the editors at America magazine cut an important sentence from his answer about the role of women in the church: “It is necessary to broaden the opportunities for a stronger presence of women in the church.” America editor in chief Jesuit Fr. Matt Malone Read more
One of Saudi Arabia’s top conservative clerics has said women who drive risk damaging their ovaries and bearing children with clinical problems, countering activists who are trying to end the Islamic kingdom’s male-only driving rules. A campaign calling for women to defy the ban in a protest drive on October 26 has spread rapidly online Read more
Indonesia’s religious affairs minister has called for the Miss World beauty pageant to be cancelled, as opposition in the Muslim-majority country mounts the week before the contest opens in Bali. Suryadharma Ali said that the organisers should follow the advice of the nation’s top Islamic clerical body, which last week called for the contest to Read more
When Pope Francis convened his now-famous press conference aboard the papal plane during his trip home from World Youth Day, international attention was seized on his comments on homosexuality, specifically his words, “Who am I to judge?” (Only the leader of the world’s 1.2 billion Catholics.) But many in the church are raising their eyebrows–and Read more