Vatican summit tackles women’s ordination with a nod from Pope Francis
Vatican CityRNS Discussions about women’s ordination to the priesthood have become livelier in the waning days of the synod on synodality, Pope Francis’ month-long summit to discuss pressing issues facing the church. While there’s a consensus that women’s roles need to be promoted, participants remain divided on how to achieve that goal. The Vatican’s synod, […]
Essay: Can ecumenism survive some Orthodox churches’ resistance to ordained women?
ANNA PIELA, a visiting scholar in religious studies and gender at Northwestern University in the US, writes, in an article published by Religion News Service, that the issue of female ordination is threatening to define the future of ecumenism and Orthodoxy at large…
Essay: Ordination in Jerusalem belies slow progress for Christian women in the Middle East
In an article first published on Religion News Service, DAOUD KUTTAB says the recently ordained Lutheran pastor Sally Azar is only the fifth female pastor in the Middle East…
German bishops assure Vatican but vow to proceed with reform
Vatican CityAP Germany’s Catholic bishops insisted Saturday that their reform process won’t lead to a schism and vowed to see it through, after tense meetings with Vatican officials who want a moratorium on proposals to ordain women, bless same-sex unions and rethink church teaching on sexuality. The head of the German bishops’ conference, Bishop Georg […]
Top German Catholic bishop urges shift on women’s ordination, homosexuality
RNS Bishop Georg Bätzing, the current president of the German national conference of Catholic prelates, called for a more inclusive church on Tuesday, suggesting that the Catholic hierarchy could shift its positions on women’s ordination and homosexuality. According to the Catholic News Service, Bätzing, who heads the Diocese of Limburg, near Frankfurt, told a German […]
Final Amazon synod document expected to mention female deacons
Vatican CityRNS As word spread that the final document of the Amazon synod will include recommendations about the ordination of women to the diaconate, bishops involved in the synod have taken a stand asking for more female participation and leadership in the Catholic Church. “The participation of women in society and in the church is […]
New video captures sexist comments to women ministers – read by male counterparts
RNS “I can’t concentrate on your sermon because you’re so pretty.” “You do a really good job. But I think Scripture is more meaningful if read with a male voice.” “I keep picturing you naked under your robe.” For female ministers in the North Carolina Conference of the United Methodist Church, comments like these […]