Christopher White

The Vatican summit on the future of the church concluded on Oct. 28 by postponing action on ordaining women as deacons and failing to acknowledge deep tensions over how to care for LGBTQ Catholics.

The Oct. 25 "Letter to the People of God" from the ongoing Synod of Bishops highlights the significance of women participating in the event as full members, and the duty of the church to listen to clergy abuse victims.

Listen: In a special episode of "The Vatican Briefing," Joshua McElwee and Christopher White have an exclusive conversation with Loretto Sr. Jeannine Gramick about her Oct. 17 meeting with Pope Francis. Gramick says the pope "is trying to get us to move forward."

"It is important that lay life, religious life and the priesthood are all seen as complementary as a reciprocity of service," says Congregation of Jesus Sr. Gill Goulding.

Pope Francis on Oct. 4 released a new document taking direct aim at climate change deniers and castigating Western nations, particularly the United States, for "irresponsible lifestyle[s]" causing irreparable harm to the planet.

Officially opening the monthlong Synod of Bishops on Oct. 4, Pope Francis encouraged the participants, bishops and laypeople alike, to reject the temptations of doctrinal rigidity and to embrace a vision of the church that is open and welcoming to all.

As part of NCR's new podcast, The Vatican Briefing, one of the voting members of the Synod of Bishops has indicated an openness to restoring the early Catholic Church's tradition of ordaining women as deacons.

Pope Francis has expressed openness to Catholic blessings for same-sex couples, under the condition they are not confused with marriage ceremonies for men and women, in what could be a watershed moment for the church.

La Hna. Shizue Filo Hirota, miembro del comité vaticano encargado de organizar las próximas reuniones sinodales en Roma, destaca la importancia de la sinodalidad como un enfoque inclusivo en la Iglesia católica. En una entrevista para GSR, Hirota compartió su experiencia y refirió cómo el papa Francisco busca que el Sínodo de Obispos sea un encuentro del pueblo de Dios, no solo de prelados, cuyo papel recuerde la diversidad y represente los clamores de los excluidos. La religiosa también resalta la importancia de la no violencia evangélica y la construcción de la paz en el contexto del Sínodo. En su labor de planificación, espera que la vulnerabilidad y las preguntas abiertas sean abrazadas por todos los participantes. Además, destaca el avance histórico de otorgar derecho a voto a hombres y mujeres. La hermana mercedaria es la única mujer y el único miembro no ordenado del comité de siete personas encargado de organizar las próximas reuniones sinodales en Roma. Pero a pesar de estar en minoría, no se siente intimidada.

The Vatican on July 7 released the full list of participants for its upcoming global synod of Catholic bishops and lay delegates, which includes noted LGBTQ advocate Jesuit Fr. James Martin and all four U.S. cardinals created by Pope Francis.

¿Qué significa abrazar la vulnerabilidad? La hermana Nadia Coppa, presidenta de la Unión Internacional de Superioras Generales (UISG), lo tiene claro, y en entrevista para GSR lo devela al compartir su experiencia trabajando con personas drogadictas en Florencia, donde aprendió a escuchar y acompañar a los demás en situaciones de vulnerabilidad. En la reciente reunión plenaria de la UISG, las religiosas se comprometieron a “vivir el proceso sinodal en la vulnerabilidad a través de su papel de líderes”, y Coppa liderará el camino. Además, habla sobre su visión de fortalecer la red de hermanas en todo el mundo y profundizar la colaboración entre los distintos dicasterios vaticanos.

Pope Francis on April 26 dramatically expanded participation in the Vatican's upcoming Synod of Bishops to include lay men and women, for the first time granting them a right to be appointed as full voting members.

The Mercedarian sister is the only woman and only nonordained member of the seven-person commission tasked with organizing the upcoming synod meetings in Rome. But despite being in the minority, she is unintimidated.

An ancient Japanese art form repairs broken vessels with gold, not hiding the damage. The tradition illustrates Pope Francis' call to "to go to the margins" because they are also places of possibility.

UISG's plenary became a "sacred space to share about our vulnerabilities as leaders of congregations," Sr. Nadia Coppa said. "Vulnerability is part of our lives as consecrated women, and we have to embrace it, not remove it."

At the end of UISG plenary in Rome, sisters shared this pledge: "I commit myself to live vulnerable synodality through service as a leader, animating it within the community, together with the people of God."

With a wave of new appointments of religious sisters inside the Vatican, Pope Francis is making room for more women religious to have a permanent seat at the table. Sisters spoke about the importance of these changes.

The design for Canadian artist Timothy Schmalz's sculpture, titled "Let the Oppressed Go Free," is inspired, in part, by a 19th-century Canossian religious sister, now saint, Josephine Bakhita.

With the listening stage of the synod on synodality underway, the two-hour conversation on Dec. 16 aimed to amplify the voices of Catholic women from across the globe, with panelists from Africa, Australia and Europe.

As the first phase of the newly revamped synod process begins, Sister Nathalie Becquart, undersecretary of the Vatican's office of the Synod of Bishops, delivered a talk in which she described the pope's vision of a more relational church. "The focus is no longer first on the primacy at the top of the pyramidal view," she said.