INTERVENTION OF HIS HOLINESS POPE FRANCIS

The Holy Father Francis spoke in the full session after hearing the report by Dr. Linda Ghisoni and her answer to one of the questions from the Assembly.

Listening to Dr Ghisoni, I heard the Church speaking about herself. That is, we have all spoken about the Church. In all of the interventions. But this time it was the Church herself who spoke. It is not just a question of style: the feminine genius, reflected in the Church, which is woman.

Inviting a woman to speak is not to enter into the mode of an ecclesiastical feminism, because in the end every feminism ends up being a machismo with a skirt. No. Inviting a woman to speak about the wounds of the Church is to invite the Church to speak about herself, about the wounds she has. And this I believe is the step that we must take with great determination: woman is the image of the Church that is woman, bride, mother. A style. Without this style we would speak of the People of God, but as an organization, perhaps a trade union, but not as a family born of the Mother Church.

The logic of Dr Ghisoni’s thought was precisely that of a mother, and it ended with the story of what happens when a woman gives birth to a child. It is the feminine mystery of the Church that is bride and mother. It is not a question of giving more functions to women in the Church — yes, this is good, but that is not how the problem is solved — it is a question of integrating the woman as the image of the Church into our thinking… and also of thinking of the Church with the categories of a woman. Thank you for your testimony.