Women and lay people will vote for the first time in the synod of bishops

The last meetings of the Synod, a kind of conclave of the bishops that meets with certain periodicity to advance the reforms and analyze the transformation needs of the Catholic Church, had already anticipated the opening.

But the Pope has taken the definitive step this Wednesday, clearing the way for the vote that is held at the end of each of these meetings for lay people and women.

Until now, only the prelates who had participated in it were allowed to participate in the approval of the final document that is drawn up in each of these meetings, something that already aroused criticism in the last great synod dedicated to the Amazon.

The measure represents further progress in the slow opening of the Church.

Since the Second Vatican Council—the meetings of the 1960s that modernized the Church—popes have summoned bishops to Rome for a few weeks at a time to address specific issues that required some consensus and analysis.

At the end of each of these appointments, the bishops vote on the specific proposals and present them to the Pope, who then issues a final verdict taking into account their positions on each issue that was discussed.

The decision of the prelates is not binding, but it is decisive for the Pontiff on duty to build his opinion.

And increasingly, the themes touch on fundamental issues of social rights that involve the secular world and, above all, women.

The Pope had already opened that door for them, but as mere consultants.

And keeping them out of final decisions seemed increasingly strange, even though most bishops were uncomfortable with the change.

The organizers of the Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops announced this novelty before the Synod on synodality that is being prepared in these years and that will culminate in two meetings in Rome in October 2023 and 2024. It is an assembly that it intends to open up the decision-making of the Church and convert it into a more horizontal structure.

Especially taking into account the demands for progress coming from the German Church, one of the richest and most powerful in the world.

The Germanic branch of Catholicism, in fact, has recently tightened the rope to unprecedented levels in its request to open up to homosexuals and women, especially so that they can reflect on their ordination as priests.

A request that until now has fallen on deaf ears —in Rome there has been talk of a possible schism if it was not attended to— and before which the Pope has always felt uncomfortable.

The main novelty now is that the 10 clerics who participated in these assemblies —people who receive holy orders and fulfill spiritual or religious functions— will be “replaced by five religious and five religious belonging to Institutes of consecrated life, elected by the respective representative organizations of the Superiors General and of the Superiors General” and with the right to vote.

The claim that has been headed for years by the nuns and the Catholic women's associations claimed that, beyond their decorative presence in the synods, they could have a voice and vote in the approval of the final document.

The other great novelty is that the figure of the auditors will be eliminated, and they will be replaced by "another 70 members, not bishops, who represent other faithful and who can be priests, consecrated persons, deacons or lay faithful and who come from the Churches local".

They will be chosen by the Pope from a list of 140 people indicated during the International meetings of the Episcopal Conferences and the Assembly of Patriarchs of the Eastern Catholic Churches.

As a guide, the Pope hopes that of this new group of 70 people, at least 50% will be women.

"All of them will have the right to vote," the document reads.

The apparent importance of the change contrasts with the cold announcement of the measure carried out by those responsible.

A warmth that would respond to the need not to bother the bishops, who will see their role in the assembly reduced from now on.

Jean-Claude Hollerich, Archbishop of Luxembourg and rapporteur of the Synod on Synodality, in fact, stressed that "it is not a revolution, since the assembly continues to be a meeting of bishops, with the participation of non-bishops", since about 75 % of participants will remain bishops.

Its relevance was also diluted by Cardinal Mario Grech, general secretary of the Synod, who added that "it will continue to be a Synod of bishops, but there will be this participation as members of the laity."

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