How Pope Francis sought to change the place of women in the catholic church

Text by Colleen Dulle*, published in America Magazine (United States) on 21 April 2025. Freely translated by the volunteers of the Gionata Project

While, after his death, the great legacy of pope francis was Discussed, One of the central themes of the debate was the place he gave to women in the Catholic church. His commitment to increasing their presence in the vatican's decision-making places has Been significant, although for many not yet sufficient, and it remains to be seen whether his reforms will be able to last over time.

Francis has appointed more women to roles of authority than any other pope before him. In 2025 he entrusted the role of prefect of a dicastery to a woman for the first time and appointed a woman to the presidency of the Governorate of the Vatican City State.

However, progress has been gradual and sometimes marked by stumbles, especially at the beginning of the pontificate. And for many observers, this openness seemed in tension with his firm opposition to the ordination of women to the priesthood or the diaconate — even though Francis himself never considered the two positions contradictory.

His reform in favor of greater female involvement in the Catholic Church can be understood above all in light of the Apostolic Constitution with which, in 2022, he reorganized the Roman Curia: an epochal text, the first of its kind since 1988.

With that reform, Francis clearly distinguished the power of government in the Catholic Church from the sacramental power conferred by the sacrament of Orders. This distinction was the key that allowed him to appoint women to roles that, until then, had been reserved for cardinals and bishops, without making them cardinals.

Women in the Vatican

The Vatican that Francis left at the time of his death was very different from the one he found in 2013. In addition to the first female prefect and the first female president of the Governorate, he also appointed the first female dicastery secretary and several undersecretaries, religious and lay. He has said several times that he believes that women are often better organizers than men, especially in the economic and administrative fields.

The numbers confirm this change. During his pontificate, the percentage of women employed in the Vatican grew from 17 percent in 2010 to 24 percent in 2019, and female appointments at mid-to-senior levels went from three in 2009 to eight in 2019.

Despite this, women remain a minority and the imbalance increases as they move up in roles of responsibility. More than 80 percent of the positions of undersecretary and equivalent rank continue to be occupied by men, mostly clerics.

Francis was perfectly aware of the internal resistance. He said several times that he had to "fight" to appoint the first female deputy director of the Vatican Press Office, a minor role compared to those he later entrusted to women. In the Vatican, gender equality has never been a goal shared by all, nor is there a common vision of what it means to truly include women in decision-making processes.

Some critical voices, such as that of the historian Lucetta Scaraffia, former director of the Vatican magazine Donne Chiesa Mondo, have argued that the women appointed by Francis were chosen "for their unconditional obedience". Scaraffia resigned in 2019 after reporting cases of sexual and work abuse suffered by religious women in Rome. However, several of the women Francis named have demonstrated independent thinking, while never publicly challenging the doctrine.

Among these, María Lía Zervino wrote an open letter to the pope asking that the presence of women in decision-making roles in the Catholic Church became the norm and that at the synods there was a proportional representation of clergy, consecrated men and women, lay men and women.

A year later, Francis appointed her a member of the Dicastery for Bishops, thus giving her a role in the selection process of new bishops.

Women in ministries

Despite having firmly reiterated his opposition to the ordination of women to the priesthood and diaconate, Francis officially opened several lay ministries to women, ministries in which they had already served informally for years.

In 2021, it allowed women to be established as readers and acolytes and, in the same year, established the lay ministry of catechist, a role largely filled by women. The decision came after the Synod for the Amazon, which had also addressed the shortage of priests in the most remote regions, where many communities were led by catechists.

Catechists like the Argentinian Viviana Greatti said that this official recognition has favored closer collaboration between them: the formalization of the ministry has led to periodic meetings, sharing of materials and greater support from the dioceses.

However, Francis' openness did not extend to ordained ministries. While allowing it to be discussed freely in the synods, he always stated that female ordination would not solve the problem of clericalism, but would rather "clericalize" women.

He often recalled the distinction formulated by the theologian Hans Urs von Balthasar between the "Marian" and "Petrine" ministries: women, like Mary, would have a maternal service to the Catholic Church, while men, like Peter, would have the responsibility of order and government.

Aware of the criticisms of this vision, Francis asked the Salesian religious Linda Pocher to organize for him and the Council of Cardinals a series of conferences on the role of women in the Catholic church. However, even after these reflections, he continued to refer to Balthasar's approach.

He made it clear several times that he would not ordain women deacons, but supported the decision of the Synod on synodality to keep the debate open and to delve deeper into the issue through two study commissions, established by himself. The first, of a historical nature, did not produce conclusive results; the second examined the possibility of the female diaconate in the context of the permanent diaconate established after the Second Vatican Council.

However, many, such as Kate McElwee of the Women's Ordination Conference, underlined the disappointment of many women who felt called to the ordained ministry and who did not receive an adequate pastoral response. According to McElwee, the tension between Francis the pastor, capable of listening and welcoming, and the pontiff who did not allow himself to be transformed by those testimonies, remained difficult to reconcile.

Francis's gaze on women

While he has opened previously closed doors, Francis has often been criticized for his way of speaking about women, which many have considered linked to a still traditional vision of gender complementarity and a vague idea of ​​"feminine mystique".

Two months after his election he told a group of nuns that the vows of chastity should not make them "spinsters"; the following year he defined the women theologians of the International Theological Commission as "the strawberries on the cake" - an expression that he intended to valorise, but which was perceived as paternalistic. He also warned that a greater presence of women in top management should not turn into "machismo in a skirt" and, in private conversations, he apparently defined gossip as "a thing for women".

Some saw in these words a reflection of the machismo of the Argentine culture in which he had grown up. The journalist Elisabetta Piqué, her long-time friend and wife of America's Vatican correspondent, Gerard O'Connell, however defended her memory, recalling how Francis had always supported her career as a war correspondent, even when she had two young children, calling her regularly during his missions. “In the Catholic Church, everything doesn't change overnight: it takes years,” he added.

Despite his contradictions, francis Has made notable progress in the advancement of women in vatican Government. the distinction he introduced between governmental authority and sacramental authority is destined to remain a point of reference, even if it is not yet fully integrated into canon law.

This has led to particular situations, such as the appointment of a male "pro-prefect" alongside the first female prefect, to guarantee the canonical validity of some documents that require the signature of a cleric.

The future of this path will depend on various factors: on the willingness of the women appointed to remain in often difficult roles; by the will of the next pope to continue the reforms; and by the slow but continuous change, as Sister Nathalie Becquart defined it, of a "patriarchal mentality" that still resists in the Vatican.

Only time will tell whether francis' pontificate has Truly shattered the "glass ceiling" Of churches or whether it has merely cracked some stained glass windows.

*Colleen Dulle is America magazine's Vatican correspondent, Co-host Of the podcast “Inside The vatican” And author of the book Struck Down, Not Destroyed: Keeping the Faith as a Vatican Reporter (Image, 2025).

Original text: How Pope Francis changed the place of women in the church