The women in Pope's life

Hilary Bainemigisha 
hilary@auntporridge.com

Pope Francis has died before the Catholic Church allowed herself the first female priest! Not that he was about to allow it, because he frequently reaffirmed Pope John Paul II’s 1994 ban on women priests. 

But, I can tell you, women received from him more game-changing avenues than they would have harvested in the female priesthood. 

But before I explain my proposition, I invite you to 2005, when I almost killed my dad with a headline like above. 

When Pope John Paul II passed on, my search for a relevant theme to write about in my column landed on stories about nuns who had been very instrumental in his life. 

The article is still available online. Some were nursing the late pontiff till his final dying moments, another was in charge of his private correspondences and another of his wardrobe. 

It was a laudable column in their praise, with the title: The Women In Pope John Paul II’s Life. 

In the usual advertorial exuberance to popularise New Vision, our local Runyankore Radio West announced that Dr Love had written about Abakazi ba Paapa. 

This translation also means the women in the pope’s life. However, in our language, “woman” and “wife” imply the same. 

So, people thought I had written about the pope’s secret wives! By people, I include my dad, who was startled out of bed by the radio advert. 

He couldn’t believe that his own flesh and blood had penned such a desecrating content about the supreme head of the Catholic Church on earth. 

He immediately developed a high fever, rejected breakfast and refused to take his medicine. His handlers said he was crying: “Hilary yanyita!” (Hilary has killed me!). 

I found several missed calls from him after our morning editorial meeting and called back. My cousin picked up and asked what I had written in the newspapers. 

In the meantime, dad had driven to the trading centre and bought a newspaper, only to find that the article wasn’t only harmless but also commendable. 

He called back to communicate his boundless relief and also express disappointment at Radio West’s announcement. With the New Vision in hand, he moved around Rubindi trading centre, explaining how the radio advert was giving a wrong impression. 

His fever disappeared immediately. That must have been the time he added a sentence in his Will forbidding his children from abandoning, shaming or participating in any ridicule of the Catholic Church.

Dad and the Papacy 

My dad, the late Francis Xavier Nture, was a papacy advocate and enthusiast of no ordinary kind. 

In my illustrious journey as editor of a leading national daily, the New Vision, I was privileged to supervise the coverage of two papal successions: that of Pope Benedict XVI in 2005 and Pope Francis in 2013. 

The same position bestowed upon me an opportunity to co-ordinate our media team during the visit of Pope Francis in 2015. This pleased my dad more than any money I ever gave him.

I recall how he reacted when Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio assumed the papal name of Francis. 

With elation, a smile and exuberance, dad looked up to heaven and echoed the biblical words of Simeon: “Lord, you can now let your servant depart in peace.” 

Hilary Bainemigisha

The name Francis meant heaven to him. Sharing it with the Pope was a blessing of no ordinary kind. He even made me promise that if he were to die in the hospital, it should be our own Catholic facility, preferably Nsambya Hospital, because it is named after St Francis. I’m happy to have given him that opportunity. 

In 2015, Pope Francis and I enjoyed the same oxygen at the Namugongo Catholic Shrine. 

In fact, he passed so close to me by about four metres. I would have hit him with a Bible if I had it, together with the required obstinacy, insanity and audacity of a tweeting general.

 When I narrated this incident to my dad, he said: “My son, if you have experienced the Pope that directly (okwoota buriro in Runyankore), so have I! I can depart in peace.” He died the following year. 

Pope Francis' women  

Today, I again risk the title: Women in Pope Francis’ life. There was no way I would ignore the pontiff’s breakthrough in the hardcore of masculine domination that has characterised the Vatican for ages. I have seen some literature bashing his failure to endorse women’s priesthood. 

They say the Pope raised the hope and crushed it! Three years into his papacy, Pope Francis created a commission to study the subject of starting with women deacons. Like priests, they would require ordination, but still not celebrate Mass. 

The report came out in 2019 and was never released publicly. When asked, the Pope explained that the group failed to find consensus. So, he commissioned another study in 2020. Sadly, he has passed on before it concluded its work. We look to the next pope for answers.

Gender successes 

In objective reality, the Vatican Pope Francis has left behind is very different from the one he was elected to lead in 2013. For the first time, there is a woman prefect of a dicastery and president of the pope’s government, a woman secretary and several women undersecretaries, both religious and lay. 

The Vatican City website says the proportion of women working in the Vatican rose from 17% in 2010 to 24% in 2019. Women in medium-high positions almost tripled from three in 2009 to eight in 2019. 

Pope Francis was able to do this by his monumental reform of the Roman Curia’s constitution. He officially separated the power of governance from the sacramental powers conferred on a man by Holy Orders. 

This distinction allowed two kinds of authority in the Church and enabled him to appoint women without having to first ordain them as priests.

Women leaders 

Pope Francis has appointed around 20 women to positions of responsibility in the Vatican, reaching previously unheard-of levels. In 2016, he made Barbara Jatta the first woman director of the Vatican museums. 

In 2019, Pope Francis stunned theologians when he named a woman among the six leaders of international religious orders as a full member of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life. 

In your local understanding, these are the board members, responsible for policies that directly affect nuns all over the world. In 2021, he appointed Franciscan Sister of the Eucharist, Raffaella Petrini, as the new secretary general of the Governorate of Vatican City State. 

But, most notable and astounding, is the recent promotion he made this February as he was battling double pneumonia in hospital. He elevated Sr Petrini to president of the Governorate and the Pontifical Commission for the Vatican City State. 

Thus, she became the first woman ever to become the executive governor of Vatican City. This is the highest-ranking role ever held by a woman in the Catholic Church. 

As governor, Sr Petrini oversees the city’s infrastructure, institutions and daily operations. Weeks before that, he named Sr Simona Brambilla the prefect of the Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life. 

She became the first woman to oversee the world’s Catholic religious orders. In 2021, he chose Catia Summaria to become the first woman to head a Vatican judicial body (Court of Appeal). 

The following year, Pope Francis made Sr Alessandra Smerilli the number two official in the Vatican’s development office, which deals with peace and justice issues. 

He also made sisters Petrini, Yvonne Reungoat and Maria Lia Zervino part of a previously all-male committee that helps select the world’s bishops.

Women in the Synod  

In 2021, Pope Francis appointed Sr Nathalie Becquart as co-undersecretary of the Synod of Bishops, which prepares major summits of the world’s Catholic bishops every few years. 

He also gave women a vote for the first time at synod summit meetings, which discuss major issues facing the global Church. 

The Pope expanded the synod to include women as full members. In 2023, he allowed about 50 women to be full members with voting rights at the Synod on Synodality.

Previously, women religious were allowed into synods as observers or experts but not allowed to vote. 

For example, in the October 2024 synod, nearly 60 women joined around 300 cardinals, bishops and priests. And their votes counted!

Women priests 

We don’t have female priests yet, but in 2021, he issued Spiritus Domini, formally changing canon law to allow women to serve as lectors and acolytes. 

Lectors take readings, sing refrains between readings, and announce intentions and prayers of the faithful during Mass. Acolytes assist a priest during Mass by preparing the altar and sacred vessels and can distribute communion. 

These liturgical roles were previously reserved for men. May you rest in peace, our beloved Pope. If the seating arrangement is alphabetical, you should meet my dad, Francis, soon. He is a fun guy to live with.