Pope Francis Will Give Women a Role in Appointing Bishops

David Martin | The Daily Knight

Pope Francis said he plans to name two women to the committee tasked with appointing bishops for Roman Rite dioceses of the Catholic Church.

In an interview on July 2 with Reuters, the pope indicated the women would be members, not consultants or staff members, of the Dicastery for Bishops, which currently has only cardinals and bishops as members.

“Two women will be appointed for the first time in the committee to elect bishops in the Congregation for Bishops,” Francis told Reuters’ Vatican correspondent Philip Pullella.

Church Teaching on Women Defied

What ever happened to the Church’s teaching forbidding women from speaking in the Church? St. Paul makes it clear: “Let women keep silence in the churches: for it is not permitted them to speak, but to be subject, as also the law says. But if they would learn anything, let them ask their husbands at home. For it is a shame for a woman to speak in the Church.” (1 Cor. 14: 34,35)

If it is a shame for a woman to speak in the Church, how much more shameful is it for a woman to hold authority in the Church? What next, shall women bishops ordain priests?

It appears the framework is being set in place to start ordaining ‘women priests’ in the future. Cardinal Reinhard Marx, a dissident German prelate and close adviser of Pope Francis, recently called for the establishment of the women’s diaconate—the diaconate being a preparatory step for the priesthood.

“I believe that the time is ripe that it must and should be open to men and women,” Marx said on July 2 during a sermon at the Cathedral of Our Lady, adding that he thought it was time for “a new approach.”

The likelihood of ordaining women “priests” in the future shouldn’t seem far-fetched. After all, if Francis now allows queer bishops, why wouldn’t he allow women bishops? If women are given a role in choosing bishops it gives them a priestly air and sends the signal out to the Church that women too can be bishops and priests.

What is Rome trying to pull off?