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| Sr. Nathalie Becquart photo by Peter Potrowi via Wikipedia |
One woman will be allowed to vote in the next Vatican synod of bishops in 2022. Hooray!
Her name is Nathalie Bequart, and she's a nun, of course. She has been named an undersecretary in the Synod of Bishops office in Rome, and she's the fourth woman to become an undersecretary in various departments of the Vatican. She's French.
Thank you to RNS, the Religious News Service, which sent Nicole Winfield to interview her in Rome on Feb. 10 and wrote this report: "Nun named to voting position at Vatican praises 'brave' pope."
[There have been many] "calls to allow women religious superiors, who also participate in synods of bishops, to have the right to vote on proposals of pressing concern to the life of the church. The religious sisters are allowed to speak and participate in the bishops’ debate, but have not been allowed to vote.
Their calls took on public form during a 2018 synod of bishops on youth, with prominent nuns calling for the vote and a popular movement promoted by progressive women’s groups #VotesForCatholicWomen.
As a result, Becquart’s appointment has been met with praise but also some bitterness that in 2021 it’s actually newsworthy that a lone woman might be able to cast a ballot alongside hundreds of male bishops about the future life of the Catholic Church."
My friend Andre Berthou in Paris sent this news to me, knowing that I'd be interested:
La star catholique du moment, c’est elle : Nathalie Becquart, une religieuse française de 52 ans, promue, samedi, par le pape François, devenant ainsi la première femme à obtenir le droit de vote au Vatican.
Sr. Nathalie praised Pope Francis for his courage to move ahead in this daring way: "He is the one who is writing history, with the Holy Spirit of course behind him."
Ah, the crumbs we women settle for. One woman voting with hundreds of men, bishops from around the world.
One tiny step for woman, one giant step for humankind. And other women will follow Nathalie Becquart.
I'm still betting that women will be ordained as regular priests in the Roman Catholic Church by 2050.
Mark my words.
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