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Pope changes Church law to enshrine roles for women

Pope Francis leads the Angelus prayer on Epiphany, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, at the Vatican. [Reuters]

Pope Francis, in another step towards greater equality for women in the Roman Catholic Church, on Monday changed its law to formally codify their roles as altar servers, distributors of communion and readers at liturgies.

The pope's decree formalised practices already common in many countries. But the change in the Code of Canon Law means conservative bishops will not be able to block women in their dioceses from taking those roles.

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