Another Week, Another Woman

Pope Francis is serious about finding competent women to place in administrative positions. This week, it is Nathalie Becquart, a Xavière Missionary Sister, appointed as one of two  undersecretaries in the Vatican’s office for the Synod of Bishops. This is especially interesting because organizing a meeting of bishops is not usually a role assigned to a woman. As Dan Horan notes on the NCR podcast, some bishops’ feathers may be ruffled by her leadership of their assembly. 

And in typical Francis style, Becquart’s role in that assembly is not exactly clear. Several news outlets leapt to what is the usual practice:  undersecretaries are members of the synods and have a vote, and therefore she should be the first voting woman. But maybe not.

Vatican News Service interviewer Alessandro Gisotti puts it right out there to Maltese Cardinal Mario Grech, the secretary of the Synod: “As Under-secretary, Sr Nathalie Becquart will have the right to vote at the next Synod whose focus is a synodal Church.” Did the Pope approve that very bold statement? 

Grech answers: “the possibility that she will participate with the right to vote, a door has been open.” Grech then tries to thread the needle to link authority and collegiality: “I would like that the three of us, and all of the staff of the Synod Secretariat, work out of the same spirit of collaboration and experience a new style of ‘synodal’ leadership, a leadership of service that is less clerical and hierarchical, that allows participation and co-responsibility without at the same time abdicating the responsibilities entrusted to them.” That door is for the Pope to open, not the Cardinal. 

Becquart herself, in a brief VNS interview, stresses—as Grech does—that her appointment means that Pope Francis is “listening to the the people of God” at the last two synods, when “many” called for more women in leadership positions. NCR’s Global Sisters Report notes that Becquart “focused on the Dominican theologian Fr. Yves Congar during her theology studies,” and “said she believes the Holy Spirit ‘works by innovating in continuity with the past.’” [emphasis added]

In a press statement, FutureChurch reviews the history of the campaigns around synod voting and translates Grech’s comment, “possibilità di partecipare con diritto di voto,” as acknowledging that Becquart can vote. A subsequent press release provides the most complete summary of Becquart’s press conference and evaluates her possible strategies around the voting issue.

Nicole Winfield of the AP also reminds her readers of the #VotesforCatholicWomen campaign and interviews WOC Executive Director, Kate McElwee, as did NPR. I do not doubt the power of activism in making change, even in the Vatican. And of course, McElwee emphasizes how much further the Vatican can go. 

Lest you think that the spirit of synodality reigns supreme in Rome, however, I call to your attention the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. In the same news cycle that Cardinal Luis Ladaria Ferrer, its prefect, broke the news that the congregation is no longer called the Inquisition, rumors started circulating that it was investigating Maria 2.0, the German women’s movement. Remember the investigation that resulted in the NunJustice movement here? Perhaps the CDF has learned. 

Neither church nor Maria 2.0 leaders knew about any investigation, but both Christa Pongratz-Lippitt in The Tablet and Elise Ann Allen in Crux took the opportunity to review Maria 2.0’s activism, including for women’s ordination.  One of the leaders, Maria Mesrian, told Allen that: “she doesn’t believe the Vatican will actually investigate them, ‘because there are many bishops in Germany who support us, so it would be really silly to start an investigation. For us, it would be more publicity.’” Exactly what activism does. In this case, they are supported by larger and more traditional German women’s organizations, which are part of the German Synod of Bishops now revving up again, as reported by Claire Giangrave of Religion News Service. 

While the immediate issues focus on handling the sex abuse scandal, the status of women in the church is another of the four main areas to be considered by that synod. Giangrave reports that: “Limburg Bishop Georg Bätzing, the president of the German Bishops’ Conference who is heading up the Synodal Path, recently said that arguments against the ordination of women ‘are becoming less and less convincing,’” and mentions the power of Angela Merkel’s leadership.

I will be watching to see how the CDF, and the Pope himself, handles what is reported out of Germany. Synodality is great in theory, but when the representatives are able to speak their truth, sometimes “continuity with the past” gets priority. We can look at the Synod on the Amazon as an example, and also the Synod on Youth, in which Becquart had an important role. Despite the final statements, the documents leading up to them are in the public record, and suggest that “innovative” ideas may come forward, again and again.