Vatican

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 Catholic Church needs women, especially women saints, who have shown throughout history an unwavering dedication to God and to caring for their brothers and sisters, Pope Francis said.

The Life - Sister panelists reflect on the gifts that women religious can bring to the synod on synodality and its journey to become a community that reaches beyond itself to those whose voices have not been heard.

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.

When asked if women other than Sr. Nathalie Becquart, an undersecretary in the Vatican's synod office, would be able to cast a ballot at the final meeting in October 2023, Maltese Cardinal Mario Grech refused to say.

The 46-year-old Italian is an economist and professor of economic policy, an adviser to the governing office of Vatican City State, and a consultant to the Synod of Bishops.

Pope Francis recognized the martyrdom of 10 nuns who were brutally murdered by Soviet soldiers in Poland at the end of World War II and declared venerable Robert Schuman, who is considered one of the founding fathers of European unity.