Pope Leo XIV, during an audience on the occasion of the Synodal Teams Jubilee, responded to a question about the role of women by sharing a personal memory. He also reflected on the contribution of women to church life in Peru.
POPE'S RESPONSE IN ENGLISH:
I’ll start with two very personal experiences of mine, beginning with my family, where I grew up in a Catholic household. Both my mother and my father were very, very active in the parish. Years ago, when discussions about equality between women and men were very common in the United States —I’m talking about the 1970s— I asked my mother:
“Do you want to be equal to men?” And she replied, “No, because we are already better.”
And she certainly wasn’t joking. In other words, there are many gifts that women have, which they can already offer in many ways, both in family life and in parish life. My mother was just one example; many other women were already living this out.
A second experience comes from Peru, where there is a congregation of consecrated women whose charism is to serve in places where there are no priests.
They are authorized to baptize, act as official witnesses at weddings, and carry out an incredible missionary work that can truly serve as an example even for many priests, showing: “This is the courage needed to proclaim the Gospel,” and it is women who do it.
BAM
