AS the Vatican prepares for a new papal election, a group of Catholic women took to a park overlooking St. Peter’s Basilica, protesting their exclusion from the conclave and the broader Catholic priesthood.
Campaigners set off pink smoke flares to draw attention to their demand for women’s ordination in the Church.
Miriam Duignan, a prominent advocate from the Wijngaards Institute in Cambridge, emphasized the importance of addressing gender inequality within the Church. “We are saying to the cardinals, you cannot keep ignoring 50 percent of the Catholic population,” Duignan said. “The future of the Church cannot be decided without considering half of the Church.”
Duignan criticized the lack of progress on women’s inclusion, pointing out that even Pope Francis had not adequately addressed the issue. “Whoever is elected must be brave enough to tackle this question,” she added.
The protest referenced the black and white smoke traditionally used by the Vatican to announce voting results.
Duignan shared that similar actions outside St. Peter’s Square have led to detention, and activists are typically not invited to the conclave.
Women have taken on senior lay roles within the global Church, a process accelerated under Pope Francis.
However, female theologians and ministers remain excluded from the priesthood, and only male priests hold the most senior leadership positions. Duignan criticized this disparity, stating, “Even the youngest priest is the boss of the most experienced woman.”
The protesters claim that early Church history saw women in equal roles, but reforms in the medieval era shifted the dynamic.
Duignan suggested that cardinals are aware of this history but prefer to keep it hidden. Kate McElwee of the Women’s Ordination Conference called the exclusion a “crisis” and a form of injustice.
“We send up pink smoke as our hope that the Church may someday welcome women as equals,” she stated.
‘A SIN AND A SCANDAL’
Activist Gabrielle Fidelin labeled the exclusion “a sin and a scandal.”
Duignan revealed that, despite Pope Francis’s reforms, only one of the 133 cardinals is known to support women’s ordination, and he remains anonymous for fear of facing expulsion.
In a sign of progress, the Synod under Pope Francis has included female members and discussed the possibility of women’s ordination.
However, a recent report concluded that the question of women’s access to the diaconate, considered a potential stepping stone to priesthood, remains unresolved.