ROOT & BRANCH: PAPABILE WOMEN

 hello@rootandbranchsynod.org                  www.rootandbranchsynod.org            No. 151             06/05/2025
“The Church is like a bird with a broken wing. A Church which continues to ignore over 600 million women in favour of men is doomed to flutter helplessly on the ground, able neither to walk nor fly,” says Dr. Mary McAleese.

Root & Branch takes this opportunity to highlight the myriad women ignored by our hierarchy. They have the pastoral, theological, emotional, therapeutic and management talents and skills to have reached the top of their manifold professions – and yet our institutional Roman Catholic Church ignores them.

Firstly, what a waste! Why should God give us all these talents, only to see them silenced? Forbidden to be used in Church governance?

Secondly, a quarter of the world’s schools, colleges, hospitals, clinics, refuges and social services are run by the Catholic Church. And a great proportion of them are run by women.

Again, a wealth of experience, skills, wisdom and management, ignored by our Church. Not one of these women leaders has the power to change one full stop of our Church’s teaching.

Thirdly, have you noticed – as with the scandal of Church-related abuse – it is the secular world that is asking questions. Where are your women? they ask, as this Conclave begins.

Well, here are the tiniest handful of them for you. Enjoy!

Click here to see our full list of Papabile Women (we would say Mamabile, but the world probably wouldn’t understand us). Which we have produced with apologies to the myriad women we’ve had to leave out, but who carry us on their shoulders.

We salute you, Papabile* Women! We need you in a transformed consultative, listening and teamworking Roman Catholic Church leadership.

*Papabile is Italian for eligible, or worthy to be. In this case, a leader of the Church.
PAPABILE WOMEN – SEE OUR FULL LIST HERE

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