Pope Francis Praises Role of Women in Church

'Noli me tangere'

At his Wednesday audience today, Pope Francis gave a beautiful explanation of the vital role that women have played since the earliest days of the Church. From the Catholic News Agency:

VATICAN CITY — During his second Wednesday general audience, Pope Francis said that women’s main role in the Church is to communicate God’s love. 

“Women have had and still have a special role in opening doors to the Lord, in following him and communicating his face, because the eyes of faith always need the simple and profound look of love,” he said April 3 in St. Peter’s Square. 

“This is beautiful, and this is the mission of women, of mothers and women: to give witness to their children and grandchildren that Christ is risn,” said the Pope. ... 

Pope Francis reminded the crowd that the first witnesses of Christ’s resurrection were women. 

“This tells us that God does not choose according to human criteria: The first witnesses of the birth of Jesus are the shepherds, simple and humble people; the first witnesses of the Resurrection are women,” he said.

As though on cue, liberal feminists have already pounced on the pope's comments as not going far enough, yada yada yada...

And the Telegraph had this to say:

Francis has established a much more informal, man-of-the-people style in comparison with his predecessor, Benedict XVI, who is now in retirement in a castle outside Rome as Pope Emeritus. 

But the book shows that the 76-year-old South American Pope is as doctrinally conservative as Benedict. [After their initial enthusiasm, the secular media is slowly beginning to realize this. I knew it wouldn't take long.] 

He staunchly rejects the idea that the Church should allow women to become priests. "Woman has another role, which is reflected in the figure of Mary," he writes in the book.