Vatican City, Jan 25, 2014 / 10:39 am
Pope Francis met with a group of Italian women today, expressing his desire for women to participate more widely in the Church and in society without neglecting the family.
"I have been pleased to see many women share some pastoral responsibilities with priests in accompanying people, families, and groups, (just) as in theological reflection; and I hope that more spaces are widened for a feminine presence in the Church that is more widespread and incisive," he said on Jan. 25 to members of the "Centro Italiano Femminile," a women's group founded to promote democracy in Italy based on respect for the human person and Christian principles.
"These new spaces and responsibilities that are open, and that I vividly hope can further expand to the presence and activity of women, as much in the ecclesial sphere as in that of civil and professional, can not make us forget the irreplaceable role of women in the family," Pope Francis emphasized.
Women's particular qualities of sensitivity toward other people "represent not only a genuine strength for the lives of families, for the irradiation of a climate of serenity and harmony, but a reality without which the vocation human would not be able to be realized."