Once a rare sight in the Vatican’s halls of power, women are increasingly being seen in senior posts under Pope Francis, but the gender battle is far from won.
The centuries-old institution has an inherently patriarchal image, from the Swiss Guards at the gates to the cardinals seated in St Peter’s Square.
It reflects the wider Roman Catholic Church, which outlaws the ordination of women.
Photo: AFP / VATICAN MEDIA
Yet the pontiff’s push for reform has seen more women given roles in administrating the Vatican — even if they are mainly behind the scenes.
From economists to secretaries, historians and archivists, 649 women worked in 2019 for the Roman Curia — 24 percent of employees — compared with 385 in 2010, the latest available data showed.
While the shift within the state is hailed in public, about 10 women interviewed on condition of anonymity described facing resistance and condescension.
One denounced “a glass ceiling and a generally paternalistic attitude in the corridors,” with a backward-looking vision of “the sensitive, gentle woman, which we find in the pope’s speeches.”
“We sometimes feel they consider us as interns. There are little gestures, a hand on the shoulder, a lack of consideration, almost daily remarks about appearance and dress,” she said.
Some described feeling subject to an implicit order for female employees to be silent and docile. Others expressed frustration at being relegated to lesser roles.
“There is still a long way to go,” one woman said.
In 2016, the Women in the Vatican association was created, a network of about 100 members that meet every month “to enhance the role of women,” association president Margherita Romanelli told reporters.
It followed the creation just four years earlier of a monthly women’s supplement by L’Osservatore Romano, the Vatican’s official newspaper.
The surprise initiative was lauded by many, but quickly ran into trouble.
Its founder, Lucetta Scaraffia, a journalist and historian, resigned in 2019, denouncing a “climate of mistrust.”
Francis’ reforms were essentially “cosmetic” and actually concealed a “macho mentality” that implied that “women must serve without asking anything in return,” she told reporters.
Scaraffia pointed to the “modern slavery” of nuns employed in the Vatican and elsewhere as “servants” in the homes of priests, bishops or cardinals, doing the “cooking, cleaning, clothes washing” while being “underpaid.”
And she said that there was sexual abuse of nuns in Rome and elsewhere in the world.
Despite these criticisms, many welcome the acceleration of a process begun about 20 years ago. The number of women in positions of responsibility at the Vatican has tripled since the election of Francis 10 years ago, from Vatican Museums director Barbara Jatta to Alessandra Smerilli, the first woman to be appointed the equivalent of a deputy minister.
“The Vatican is late, but women have a voice today. They don’t let themselves be pushed around anymore,” one female official said.
Protestant churches took the lead in propelling women to the top of their ranks and some theologians, such as Anne-Marie Pelletier of France, say the pope must now grasp the opportunity to move faster and more decisively.
The ordination of women as deacons or even cardinals “would be a strong symbolic gesture to erase these stereotypes,” Pelletier said.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese