Transformative Pope who catapulted more women to high offices in Church

Pope Francis blesses children when he visited St Joseph the Worker Catholic church, in Kagemi, Nairobi, in November 2015. [File, Standard] Pope Francis, elected to lead the 1.2 billion Catholics on March 12 2013, will be remembered as perhaps the Pope who helped transform the Catholic Church most. On 9th and 10th October 2021, Pope Francis, the first Pope from outside Europe, launched a referendum of sorts in the Vatican to help transform the Catholic Church through a new journey of faith known as the Synod on Synodality. For the first time, a sitting Pope sought the input of all baptised Catholics on how best the Church could serve its people and the world as a whole. This made him different from his predecessors. The "Synod on Synodality" was a three-year (2021-2024) worldwide process within the Catholic Church that focused on deepening communion, participation, and mission. The process also aims to welcome back baptised Catholics who fled the Church for one reason or another and to hold back those intending to leave by making the Church more accommodating to its faithful. Through Synod on Synodality, Pope Francis advanced the spirit and implementation of the Second Vatican Council (Vatican II) enacted by Pope Paul VI in 1965 by emphasizing themes like inclusivity, dialogue, and the Church's role in the modern world while also promoting liturgical reforms and streamlining Vatican administration. This exercise started from the parishes worldwide as a journey of listening, dialogue, and discernment, culminating in global assemblies at the Vatican. The suggestions received from the parish grassroots were harmonised by respective committees. This began at the parish level and sent to diocesan committees, national bishops conferences, and then to one of the regional episcopal conferences. The synthesized recommendations were then sent to the continental Association of Catholic Bishops in the case of Africa -the Symposium of the Episcopal Conference of Africa and Madagascar (SECAM) which prepared the continental document sent to the Rome by the end of March 2023 for discussion by the Synod that sat for the entire month of October 2023 and 2024. Pope Francis signed the final document expected to guide the Catholic Church on October 26, 2024. On March 11, 2025, the Pope approved the start of the accompaniment and evaluation process for the implementation phase of the Synod on Synodality. The implementation stage is expected to start in all Dioceses and Eparchies, Episcopal Conferences, and the hierarchical structures of the Eastern Catholic Churches and their continental groupings. The whole process is expected to culminate in celebrating an ecclesial assembly-the next Synod-in the Vatican in October 2028, when implementation of and progress of the new journey of faith will be reviewed. Pope Francis followed in the footsteps of Pope John Paul II's legacy. This legacy significantly influenced the current Synod on Synodality through his emphasis on the Church as a "communion-in-mission" and the importance of the Synod of Bishops as an instrument of episcopal collegiality, which forms the foundation of the current synodal process. Pope Francis will not witness the progress of the Synod on Synodality - the new transformative journey of faith he introduced into the Catholic Church in the face of fierce opposition by the conservatives in the Church. He has, however, left a strong team of followers to champion this course led by Cardinal Mario Grech, the Maltese prelate who has served as Secretary General of the Synod of Bishops since 2020, and Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich, Archbishop of Luxembourg, whom he appointed the relator general (main organiser) of the Synod on Synodality. At the beginning of his pontificate in 2013, Pope Francis advanced the spirit and implementation of the Second Vatican Council (Vatican II) by emphasizing themes like inclusivity, dialogue, and the Church's role in the modern world while promoting liturgical reforms and streamlining Vatican administration. He went ahead in the history of the Catholic Church and allowed non bishops and lay people in particular to be part of the 16th Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops. This Synodal Assembly which had 364 participants included 70 non-bishops, including laymen, women, and young people, appointed directly by the Pope and granted voting rights. The Assembly was held in two sessions, October 2023 and October 2024, marking a significant change from previous practices, in which only Bishops were allowed to vote in the Synod. But what substantial changes did Pope Francis intend to bring to the Catholic Church through his Synod on Synodality? The Pope aimed to foster a more participatory and missionary Church by emphasizing greater lay involvement, strengthening Pastoral Councils, and exploring expanded roles for women in the Church. Through this process, the Pope called for greater transparency and accountability within the Church. He called for greater lay participation and co-responsibility by strengthening pastoral councils at parish and diocesan levels and involving laypeople in decision-making and pastoral planning. He wished to see more laypeople's involvement in the ministry, including ministries of listening and accompaniment and the possibility of laypeople contributing to preaching the Word of God. He wanted the Church to focus more on the "People of God," where all baptised members have a role to play. He wished for expanded roles for women in the Church and emphasized expanding women's access to theological formation, their inclusion in decision-making, and their responsibility in pastoral care and ministry. Pope Francis wanted to see women play bigger roles in the Church. He appointed more women to leadership in the Vatican than any Pope before him. In February 2021, the Pope appointed Reverend Sister Nathalie Becquart from France as an under-secretary of the Synod of Bishops (a pre-reserve of Bishops), making her the first woman to hold voting rights in the Synod. In February 2025, the Pope appointed Rev Sr Raffaella Petrini, an Italian nun, the first woman to serve as secretary general of the Governorate of Vatican City State-the executive branch of Vatican City State. This is the highest-ranking role ever held by a woman in the Catholic Church. Similarly, in 2022, he named several women to the Dicastery for Bishops, granting them a role in selecting new bishops. The Pope wanted the Synod to propose concrete ways that Church communities could evaluate their leaders and possible ways of electing Bishops. Indeed, when the process started, some faithful were hopeful that certain controversial issues in the Church, such as the priests getting married, the ordination of women, polygamy among the faithful, and LGBTQ issues, would be solved. The Synod could not however conclusively discuss these issues. At the end of the process in October last year, Pope Francis appointed ten special committees to discuss a total of 10 'Hot Button' issues further, including those mentioned, which could drastically change the face of the Catholic Church in the future. The committees are expected to give their findings in June this year. Pope Francis visited Kenya from November 25 to 27, 2015, on his first trip as pontiff to Africa. During this visit, he addressed issues such as poverty, inequality, and the importance of interfaith dialogue. He pleaded for traditional values, saying, "The health of any society depends on the health of its families," and urged Kenyans to work for peace and reconciliation. He also spoke about abortion and need for a caring society. He called on Kenyans to resist practices that foster arrogance in men, hurt or demean women, and threaten lives of the innocent unborn. The papal visit came at the height of political strife occasioned by intolerance and high cost of living, giving hope to many who languished in poverty. Pope Francis was also a big defender of the media. In January this year, Pope Francis encouraged journalists and communicators gathered in Rome for the Jubilee of the World of Communication to be courageous truth and hope-tellers in a world marred by conflicts, division and misinformation. The Pope told journalists, "Free, responsible, and accurate information is a treasure of knowledge, experience, and virtue that must be preserved and promoted. Without it, we risk no longer distinguishing truth from falsehood; we expose ourselves to growing prejudices and polarisations that destroy the bonds of civil coexistence and prevent us from rebuilding fraternity." -Mr George Sunguh is a Member of the Communication Commission of the Synod of Bishops in the Vatican and the Past Immediate President of the Union of the Catholic African Press (UCAP).

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