Pope Francis has made an historic decision to appoint women to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. They are the first females members and the first non-clerics to be appointed to the Congregation. The three women appointed are: Linda Ghisoni, who is a professor of canon law at the Pontifical Gregorian University and an Read more
Women’s voices must be integrated into all aspects of conflict prevention, peacekeeping and post-conflict operations, Archbishop Bernardito Auza says. Auza is the Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the United Nations in New York. Read more
A synod on women’s role in the life and mission of the Church has been proposed. The proposal is contained in a statement approved by the Pontifical Commission for Latin America’s plenary assembly. The Commission, which includes 22 Latin American cardinals and bishops, said it was both possible and “urgent” to increase opportunities for women Read more
The first thing that jumped out at me in Pope Francis’s apostolic exhortation on holiness, Gaudete et exsultate, is how much he has put women in the foreground. Women are usually in the background of papal statements, if they appear at all. Not here. They are upfront and visible. Right at the outset (para 3), Read more
To mark International Women’s Day on Thursday night, Newshub broadcast a montage of inspirational women to the tune of I Am Woman. While women from around the world and Pākehā New Zealand women were included, Māori women were not. Nor were Samoan women. The fact that Joan of Arc — a woman from 600 years ago Read more
Ireland’s former president wants Pope Francis to develop a credible strategy to include women at every level in the Catholic Church’s global structure. Mary McAleese says women’s exclusion from decision-making roles “has left the church flapping about awkwardly on one wing.” Read more
A sexist sermon has prompted Rwanda Media Commission to order an American Christian radio station to close for three months. The closure of Amazing Grace FM is a penalty for broadcasting “disgraceful” comments denigrating women. The media watchdog says on 29 January Amazing Grace broadcast a sermon by Nicolas Niyibikora. In his sermon, Niyibikora said Read more
Interfaith dialogue shows many similarities between the three major Abrahamic faiths. Jews, Christians and Muslims share a common belief in one God, share common characters, like prophets, angels and Satan and similar codes of morality, social responsibility and accountability. They also exclude women from religious and spiritual leadership. Read more
New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd took the occasion of his triumphant visits to Cuba and the United States to refer to His Holiness as “the perfect 19th-century pope”, largely because he seems disinterested in creating female priests. In her piece, Dowd’s assertions often lack context and the column itself is not particularly interesting, but it was Read more
A Vatican official says sexist attitudes must change and women should be recognised as having equal worth as men and be allowed to fully exercise their human rights. This is an increasingly urgent issue because of the “resurgence of divisions in today’s world,” Archbishop Ivan Jurkovic told the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva.