Pope’s meeting on church future says it’s ‘urgent’ to guarantee governance roles for women

By NICOLE WINFIELD
Associated Press

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis’ big gathering of Catholic bishops and laypeople on the church’s future says it’s “urgent” to guarantee fuller participation of women in church governance.  But the meeting didn’t take decisive action on that issue and it backed off any specific calls for welcoming LGBTQ+ Catholics. After a month of closed-door debate, Francis’ meeting ended late Saturday with the approval of a 42-page text on a host of issues that will now be considered at a second session next year. Each paragraph passed with the necessary two-thirds majority, but the ones involving women and priestly celibacy obtained the most “no” votes.