In his prayer intention for October, Pope Francis asks everyone to pray that women be given greater leadership roles in the Church. Source: Vatican News.
It has become the custom of Pope Francis to release a video message detailing his prayer intention for each month.
This month, the video is a collaboration with the Dicastery for Laity, Family and Life. It highlights the role of the laity, whom Pope Francis considers true protagonists in the proclamation of the Gospel.
In the video, the Pope asks especially that women be given participation in “areas of responsibility in the Church” because they “tend to be left aside.”
Over his pontificate, Pope Francis has made many gestures to give momentum to this desire to give women greater weight in the Church. The Pope’s Evangelii gaudium reads: “Demands that the legitimate rights of women be respected, based on the firm conviction that men and women are equal in dignity, present the Church with profound and challenging questions which cannot be lightly evaded.”
The full text of the video is below:
No one has been baptised a priest or a bishop. We have all been baptised as lay people. Lay people are protagonists of the Church. Today, it is especially necessary to create broader opportunities for a more incisive female presence in the Church. And we must emphasise the feminine lay presence because women tend to be left aside.
We must promote the integration of women, especially where important decisions are made. We pray that by the virtue of baptism, the laity, especially women, may participate more in areas of responsibility in the Church, without falling into forms of clericalism that diminish the lay charism.
FULL STORY
Pope intention for October: that women have greater leadership roles in the Church (Vatican News)
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Pope Francis asks for prayers so women have stronger presence in the Church (Rome Reports)
