Greater role for women at the Vatican

The Vatican, also known as the Holy See, and the centre of the Roman Catholic Church, is undergoing changes with women getting appointed to key posts in the church’s administrative set up. Pope Francis has appointed Sister Raffaella Petrini as the president of the Vatican City State. She was earlier the secretary general of the Vatican administration. This is the first time that a woman has been appointed to these important offices. The Roman Catholic Church still does not allow women to serve as ministers in the church, who can hold services and give sermons. In many ways, it remains an anachronism in the present-day Western world. But it seems that Pope Francis, a ‘leftist’ priest from Argentina, has been trying to push for progressive changes even as he holds on to many of the conservative traditions of the institution. Sister Petrini made the pertinent observation on her appointment. She said in 2023 after her appointment as secretary general that many eyebrows were raised, “more than I expected in my ingenuity”. She is also one of the three women appointed in 2022 to vet the nomination of bishops. This remains a major breakthrough for women in the Roman Catholic Church.

Critics in the West have been unsparing in their view of the church because they believe that the institution cannot remain in the old ways when the world is changing at a rapid pace, and the social norms are evolving. For many observers, the Roman Catholic Church is an anachronism in the modern world. The church has not only resisted change, but it has also been intolerant and insensitive to other people and their belief systems. That is why, Pope Francis on his visit to Canada had apologized for the atrocities committed by the church against the native people. Of course, this is seen as something that is too little and too late. The church has taken away children from their families of the natives and forcefully brought them up as Catholics. The childhood trauma of being torn away from their parents, their families and their culture can never be compensated. Pope Francis is taking small steps to change the organizational culture of the church. The church has been part of many moral and political scandals for much of the 20th century, and the church is being forced to come to terms with them. It is not an easy thing to do. Pope Francis is quite aware of the issue and he wants to do what he can in terms of correction and penitence.

The introduction of women into the administrative structure is one of the ways to move forward in correcting the biases of the church. The number of women in key administrative jobs has risen from 19.3 per cent in 2013 to 23.4 per cent now. The presence of women in the Curia, the administrative body, is around 26 per cent. This raises the hope that the representation of women in the church will grow, and this will only improve both the image and substance of the church. There are Roman Catholics who would like to see the change happening at a quicker pace, while the conservatives in the church – they constitute a significant number – do not want too many things changed. There is then an interesting tussle between the two groups. The person who can change the direction of the Roman Catholic Church is the pope. There have been liberal popes and conservative popes. And even the liberal popes care quite cautious in moving forward on the path of change. It is this cautious approach that seems to hold the church.