Author: NICOLE WINFIELD Associated Press, ABC News
Published on: 04/05/2025 | 04:07:31
AI Summary:
Catholic women do much of the church’s work in schools and hospitals. Nuns are leaving in droves, either through attrition or simply quitting. The new pope will have to address women’s expectations for greater influence in church governance. Women’s Ordination Conference, which advocates for female priests, goes further. “The exclusion of women from the conclave, and from ordained ministry, is a sin and a scandal,” it said. An anonymous letter circulated among Vatican officials in 2022. It highlighted what it called Francis’ “disastrous” pontificate. Pope Benedict XVI took steps to end decades of abuse and cover-ups. Twenty years after the sex abuse scandal first erupted in the U.S., there is still no transparency from the Vatican about the depth of the problem or how cases have been handled. Francis famously said, “Who am I to judge?” when asked about a purportedly gay monsignor at the Vatican. Francis sought to assure gay people that God loves them as they are, that “being homosexual is not a crime” and that everyone is welcome in the church. In 2024, African bishops issued a continent-wide dissent from Francis’ decision.
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