Pope asks women’s voices to be heard because “they suffer from lack of recognition”

Rome.- Pope Francis, in the preface to the book Women and Ministry in the Episcopal Church, published this Thursday, asks to “listen to the pain and joy of women”, who he assures “suffer from a lack of recognition” of the Holy See newspaper L’Osservatore Romano.

The Pope believes that “in many places and situations”, women “suffer precisely from a lack of awareness of who they are and what they do, and what they could do and be if they were given the space and the opportunity”.

“The women who suffer most are often the ones who are closest, most able, most ready and most willing to serve God and his Kingdom,” Francis noted in the foreword to the book written by Cardinals Jean-Claude Holleridge and Patrick O’Malley, as well as theologians Linda Pocher, Jo B. Wells and Giuliva Di Berardino.

The book was born out of conversations during a meeting last February of the Council of Cardinals, the so-called C9, which was set up to help the pope manage his government and his plans to reform the Roman Curia. The three theologians signed the book to contribute to the role of women in the Church.

For Francesco, the book, originally published on July 9, “has the strength of starting not from ideas but from listening to reality, from a wise interpretation of the experience of women in the Church”.