The Pope who loved women
Pope Francis greets a group of women during a Jubilee audience at St Peter's Square in Vatican City, Italy, on June 30, 2016. He earned a reputation as the leader of the Catholic Church who challenged restrictive traditions to amplify women’s voices within the Church.
What you need to know:
- Pope Francis advanced women’s roles in the Church—raising the bar for global gender-inclusive leadership.
In a stark visual that spoke volumes, President William Ruto's April 9, 2025, update on the Nairobi County Urban Renewal and Regeneration Program revealed an uncomfortable truth: around the discussion table sat only men.
The scene raised immediate concerns about gender exclusion in high-level decision-making processes, despite the meeting's progressive agenda focused on establishing decent housing and infrastructure within the devolved unit.
As Kenya's highest officeholder with appointment powers, President Ruto's meeting with representatives from the Ministry of Roads and Nairobi County underscored a persistent question: Can those with authority to make appointments break deeply entrenched patterns of gender exclusion?
Half a world away, Pope Francis had been answering this question with decisive action before his passing on Easter Monday. The late pontiff's legacy includes ground-breaking appointments that challenged centuries of male-dominated Church tradition.
In July 2022, the Pope made history by appointing three women to the previously all-male Dicastery for Bishops, an influential advisory committee that assists in selecting bishops worldwide. Siss Raffaella Petrini and Yvonne Reungoat, along with laywoman Maria Lia Zervino, became the first women to join this critical body that recommends candidates for episcopal roles.
For Sis Petrini, this marked her second significant appointment within a year. In November 2021, Pope Francis had already named her to the second-highest position in Vatican City governance as secretary-general of the governorate, overseeing more than 2,000 employees. Her ascent continued when she became President of the Pontifical Commission for State of Vatican City and president of the governorate on March 1, 2025, following the Pope's appointment.
The Pope's commitment to female leadership extended to French nun Sis Yvonne Reungoat, who was among the first seven women appointed to the Vatican department for religious orders in 2019. Similarly, Argentine laywoman Maria Lia Zervino brought her experience as president-general of the World Union of Catholic Women's Organisations to her new role.
These three women joined eleven other appointees, including cardinals, bishops, and priests, to form the 14-member Dicastery for Bishops that evaluates priests and recommends those suitable for elevation to bishop.
In February 2021, the Pope further disrupted tradition by appointing French Sis Nathalie Becquart as undersecretary of the Synod of Bishops, making her the first woman with voting rights in that advisory body.
Pope Francis also formalised women's liturgical roles in January 2021 by amending Canon 230 § 1 of the Code of Canon Law. This change, based on the Synod of Bishops' recommendation regarding doctrinal development, officially permitted women to administer Holy Communion and serve at the altar.
The pontiff's vision was perhaps most clearly articulated in the preface to More Women's Leadership for a Better World: Caring as the Engine for Our Common Home, a research compilation promoted by the Centesimus Annus pro Pontifice Foundation and the Strategic Alliance of Catholic Research Universities.
"We must work, all together, to open equal opportunities for men and women in every context, to aim for a stable and lasting situation of equality in diversity," Pope Francis wrote, acknowledging that "the road to women's affirmation is recent, troubled, and, unfortunately, not definitive. Situations like these can easily be reversed."
