Franken v Francis: protests planned in Rome after Pope rules out women deacons

ROME – Referring to the handling of questions about the role of women in the church at the current Synod of Bishops on Synodality as “catastrophic,” a coalition of progressive reform groups has announced plans to stage protests.

The Catholic Women’s Council website contains information on two public events in Rome planned for 12 October: a gathering outside the synod hall in the evening to distribute postcards to participants reading “equality,” and a theatrical spoof in the afternoon called “Vaticanelle,” in which characters described as “female bishops” and “Sister Pope” will discuss whether men are eligible for the priesthood.

“I see no desire on the part of the Vatican to seriously address the issue of women in church offices,” said Regina Franken, European chair of the Catholic Women’s Council, in remarks to KNA, the official news service of the Catholic bishops in Germany.

In a presentation to the synod on 2 October Argentine Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández said that the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, which he heads, has concluded there is “no room” for the ordination of women as deacons, while describing plans for a deeper study of ways in which women have exercised authority in the church without sacramental ordination.

Franken referred to that study as a “delaying tactic,” and said, “Women are no longer willing to accept these strategies.” Yet, Franken said, “frustration is now turning into productive anger,” saying there will be protests in Rome over the next few days. “We want to make visible both in Rome and on social networks the strategies and manipulative tactics used to treat women in the church,” she said.

Theological study regarding the eligibility of women for various church offices has been underway for more than 60 years, Franken said, expressing disappointment with the results. She said her organization has always been willing to work with those responsible in the church, but the question now is whether this cooperation is still possible.

Franken is not the only one voicing frustration. Father Thomas Schwartz, who heads the German Catholic charitable group Renovabis and is an observer at the synod, is writing blog posts about his experiences. His entry for Friday was titled, “What was that? Disillusionment instead of enthusiasm in the Synod Hall.”

“When the head of the dicastery finally announced, with regard to the question of the diaconate of women, that the Holy Father had already made it clear that there would be no decision on this in the foreseeable future, and that an official document from the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith was to be expected soon, I felt a bit like a wet poodle,” Fr Schwartz wrote.

“As a participant in an assembly that is supposed to implement the principle of synodality and has the task of implementing synodality more deeply in all areas of church life, I expected a different procedure here,” he said. “And I admit: I was pretty annoyed – both in terms of the content and the way in which the synod assembly was handled.”

Schwartz said he wasn’t the only one. “I found it comforting to know that I was not alone in feeling this way,” he wrote. “I found this out in some of the conversations during the break the next day when the so-called ‘Circoli Minori’ gathered at the round tables for their first working meetings.”

“I have the impression that many in the auditorium realize that by codifying the status quo one exposes oneself to the accusation of male-centred and reductionist anthropology,” Schwartz said. “That is why even those who have strong reservations about women’s participation in the ordained ministry, or are completely against it, still welcome a serious and theologically sound debate.”

Schwartz praised what he called an atmosphere of trying “to put themselves in the other person’s shoes” among synod participants, which, he said, makes him “more conciliatory and a little hopeful.”

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