Gomez led the Synod on Synodality assembly yesterday morning in her capacity as one of Pope Francis’s 10 president-delegates. She described the experience of sitting with the pope “as a symbol of this opening, this wish that the Church has…for something that places all of us at the same level.”
Significantly, the Mexican sister’s presiding role came as the synod assembly began its work on the topic of “co-responsibility in mission,” which includes a focus on the role of women in the Church. One of the questions under consideration during this stage of the synod is the possibility of admitting women to the diaconate.
Affirming past Church teaching, Pope Francis has repeatedly stated that the Church does not have the capacity to sacramentally ordain women. At the same time, the pope has broken from precedent to give women governing roles in the Church, including in the Vatican.
Gomez described the involvement of women in the synod as a new “modus vivendi” for the Church, “a way of life for forever, journeying together with a permanent and ongoing dialogue.”
The Mexican sister did not directly address the question of women in the diaconate during the press briefing, but another synod member did.
Abbot Mauro-Giuseppe Lepori, the head of the Cistercian Order, shared that while the synod is discussing the possibility of admitting women to the diaconate, the topic is not “dominating” the discussion.