VATICAN CITY — A new Vatican outreach initiative to listen to women hit a sour note before it got off the ground: The sexy blond on its Internet promo video came under such ridicule the video was taken down.
But the program is going ahead, and an inaugural meeting this week will study women’s issues in ways that are utterly new for the Holy See.
The working paper for the Pontifical Council of Culture’s plenary assembly on “Women’s Cultures: Equality and Difference” talks about opening the church’s doors to women so they can offer their skills “in full collaboration and integration” with men.
This is dangerous territory for the all-male Catholic Church hierarchy. Even Pope Francis has elicited cringes, such as when he recently welcomed female members of the church’s most prestigious theological commission as “strawberries on the cake.”
