His comments came on 21 October in response to the Vatican’s doctrinal chief making it clear that the admittance of women to the diaconate is off the table for the time being, accompanied by disappointment among some women attending the Synod that the top positions in the Church’s hierarchal structure will for the foreseeable future continue to be held only by men.
“A lot depends on what you think are the highest positions,” the British Dominican known for his liberal and counter-orthodox views said. “The highest positions are the Doctors of the Church, those who teach us, and many of them are women.
“Some of the greatest teachers in our church are women. What we are trying to transmit is a teaching.”
Radcliffe, who has served as a spiritual advisor to the Synod, giving frequent reflections throughout the process, voiced his belief that “it’s a very clericalist point of view to think that what really matters is [whoever] is the priest” during a 21 October news briefing.
“I didn’t grow up with that point of view, and I think that’s a relatively modern one,” he said, urging those disappointed by the fact that women cannot be ordained to “see what is fundamental of the teachings and the sacraments – that’s what grounds us”.
Since the beginning of the Synod process, which is set to close this week after a three-year global consultation unfolding at the national, continental and universal levels, the issue of the role of women in the Church and the question of their admittance to the diaconate has been among the most disputed issues up for discussion.
After last year’s Rome-based Synod gathering generated intense debate about that topic and others, Pope Francis assigned the issue to one of 10 special study groups exploring various forms of ministry and what ministries women can assume.
That study group, which is tasked with examining the women’s diaconate and other ministerial forms, is coordinated by the secretary of the Vatican’s Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF), Italian Father Armando Matteo.
On 21 October, Cardinal Víctor Fernández, prefect of the DDF, read aloud a letter to participants in the 2-27 October Synod on Synodality stating that Pope Francis has made it clear that for the time being, after two separate commissions studying the women’s diaconate, now is not the time to resolve the issue.
He said the issue of the women’s diaconate “is not yet mature”, and that focusing on the diaconate “does not resolve the question of millions of women in the Church”, while noting there are other ways of empowering women that have not yet been explored.
Sister Nathalie Becquart, undersecretary of the Vatican’s office for the Synod of Bishops and a member of the Information Commission for this year’s Synod gathering, addressed such other ways that women can be involved in leadership.
“It’s very, very important how we look at the Church, and it’s about this new imagination,” she said, noting that women, especially in the United States, serve as presidents of universities and that the president of the International Federation of Catholic Universities is also currently a woman.
Women also serve as school principals, as diocesan chancellors and as presidents of diocesan Caritas branches, she said, noting, “it’s very important to help young girls and young women to highlight that the Church is wide with many different kinds of Church organisations, and there are already many, many ways to foster women’s leadership”.
She noted that in her home country of France, several bishops have started appointing women as “general delegates” to help govern the diocese alongside the vicar general, which as per canon law must be a priest.
“That means a co-governance between the bishops, the vicar general and this woman,” Becquart said, adding that this trend has been growing throughout France and is a concrete example of how women are increasingly stepping into meaningful positions of influence within the Church.
Cardinal Matteo Zuppi of Bologna, president of the Italian bishops’ conference (CEI) and the Pope’s personal peace envoy to Ukraine, said “there is a lot more than what we think” that is happening in relation to women taking Church-based leadership roles.
“In practice, in the pastoral care, in the curia…it’s much more advanced that what we realize; that’s my impression,” he said. “It’s not just in history, but in the present.”
Nevertheless, Becquart cautioned that even if women attain such positions they are still not always taken seriously, and that a deeper cultural change is needed for women’s contributions to be truly valued.
The main obstacles to women’s involvement in meaningful roles, she said, “are cultural”, and that while scripture maintains the equality of men and women, “it’s not exactly like this” in reality.
Becquart said she has discussed the issue with women holding positions of authority from a variety of different religions, and noted they were all in agreement that it is still a struggle for their voices to be heard, regardless of the positions they occupy.
She noted that there are currently around 20 women ambassadors accredited to the Holy See, which “was not the case a few years ago”. However, after speaking to these women, she said it emerges that when it comes to the “very important commissions on serious topics, it’s all [about the] men, and the women, we are relegated to side topics”.
“Sometimes it’s very unconscious,” Becquart said, noting that oftentimes when women share something, “it’s not very well received or listened to”, but when a man says the same thing, “it’s welcomed”.
“There are many obstacles like this that are mostly cultural, and that’s why I think that also explains the situation now,” she said, describing that though “on paper” or in a document there may be “possibilities” for women, what is most important “is the conversion of the mindset, mentality, and it takes time”.
Discussion also turned to the final Synod document, a draft of which has been compiled and is being read and discussed by Synod participants, who will vote on a final version later this week.
Radcliffe, in his comments, said he has not yet read the draft, but anticipates that some people, especially those looking for major definitive decisions on various topics, could be disappointed.
“Many people in the Church still struggle to understand the nature of the Synod; they tend to see it as a parliamentary body that will make big structural changes,” he said, noting that this is natural because “that’s the model that dominates our world”.
But when it comes to the Synod, Fr Radcliffe said: “That’s not the sort of body it is.”
Father Radcliffe was recently chosen by Pope Francis as one of 21 new cardinals that will be appointed in December.