The Vatican announced on Wednesday that the pope would for the first time allow women to vote at a coming meeting of bishops, a fresh sign of Francis’ efforts to give women more say in the affairs of the Roman Catholic Church.

The pope also increased the number of lay people who will participate next October at the meeting, the Synod of Bishops, which periodically meets at the Vatican to discuss important issues such as how to deal with divorced couples. The coming synod is centred on fostering greater involvement of the faithful as the church moves forward.

In 2021, Francis amended the church’s laws so that women could be Bible readers at Mass, serve at the altar and distribute communion — practices already common in many countries. But women are still barred from becoming deacons.

The rule changes for the bishops’ meeting were made public on Wednesday in a document outlining the norms governing the synod.

The majority of the participants will remain bishops, but, according to the new norms approved by Francis, an additional 70 “non-bishop members have been added”. Of those, “it is requested that 50 per cent of them be women and that the presence of young people also is emphasised”, according to the norms, which added that, as members, “they will have the right to vote”.

Also, five nuns will join five clerics to represent religious orders, and they, too, will have the right to vote.

The pope can also add other participants, the Vatican said.

Women had participated as auditors in past synods.

At a 2018 synod, the leaders of groups dedicated to advancing women in leadership roles in the Roman Catholic Church staged protests at the Vatican demanding that the female participants at that meeting be given the right to vote “as equals alongside their brothers in Christ”.

A petition with more than 9,000 signatures was given to the secretary of the synod.

In addition, Francis has decided to appoint 70 non-bishop members of the synod and has asked that half of them be women. They too will have a vote.

New York Times News Service