Photo: Josh Boot | Unsplash
Decades of demands have been made by women to have the right to vote in bishops’ meetings, and now Pope Francis has made it possible by agreeing to change the norms, appointing five religious sisters alongside five priests as voting representatives for religious orders. Pope Francis has also appointed 70 non-bishop members of the synod to vote, with half of them being women. For the meeting in October, bishops from around the world will assemble in Rome for a few weeks at a time and debate specific topics. At the end of the meetings, particular proposals will be voted on by the bishops, and the Pope will then create a document that incorporates their views. In addition, Pope Francis has appointed a number of women to high-level Vatican positions, although none of them as the head of major Vatican offices or departments, also known as dicasteries. The changes Pope Francis made has given women more influence in church decision-making than any pope in recent ages.
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