Synodality and the Debate on the Active Participation of Women in the Catholic Church

Abstract

The Catholic Church has embarked on synodal paths with Pope Francis, celebrating the World Synod (2023/2024) after an intense process of consultation in the various local churches. The Synod’s concluding document published at the end of October 2024 states that it is important to “heed the call for greater recognition and valorization of the contribution of women”. The article analyzes this “call” from the perspective of the author who participated in the Forum 3 on “Women in Church Ministries and Offices” of the German Synodal Path. In a first part, the worldwide synodal processes opened by Pope Francis are analyzed as an “ecclesiogenesis”, where the protagonism of women plays an important role. In a second step, the achievements of the German Synodal Path are presented with regard to this protagonism, especially in reference to the theme of the female diaconate. In a third section, the perspectives of the critics of the Synodal Path and the demand for a “theology of women” are presented. Behind such a “theology of women”, an open or hidden misogyny and clericalism is shown, which is also denounced in the Concluding Document of the World Synod. The article follows a hermeneutic method of text analysis and wants to give theological foundations to open ways for the protagonism of women within the Church.