Women See Themselves as Left Out Amid Talk of Change in Catholic Church

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http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/07/world/women-see-themselves-as-left-out-amid-talk-of-change-in-catholic-church.html?_r=0

By ELISABETTA POVOLEDO
MARCH 6, 2015


Pope Francis at the Vatican. He has cited the importance of women in the life of the church, but critics say he has at times proved tone-deaf to their needs.

VATICAN CITY — In the first two years of his papacy, Pope Francis has stirred great expectations for change among Roman Catholics who believe that the church has not kept pace with the social transformations of secular society.

Nowhere are those hopes felt more keenly, perhaps, than among women, often the driving force behind local church communities, but who say that their voices remain marginalized.

Though the pope has repeatedly cited the importance of women in the life of the church, critics say he has at times proved strikingly tone-deaf toward the sensitivities and needs of women (for example, describing five women he appointed to a committee as “the strawberries on the cake”).

Some momentum is nevertheless gathering behind women’s issues, however, if only because women, correctly or not, see his papacy as an opportunity and have begun pushing their agenda forward, challenging various corners of the Vatican’s male-dominated status quo.

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