Vatican City: Pope Francis, who passed away on Monday at the age of 88, will be remembered for taking unprecedented steps to elevate women within the Vatican hierarchy. Yet, his papacy also drew criticism from advocates who felt he fell short of enacting deeper reforms regarding women’s roles in the broader Catholic Church.
Even from a hospital bed in February 2025 while battling double pneumonia, Francis continued to break new ground by appointing Sister Raffaella Petrini to a role comparable to the governor of Vatican City—the first time a woman had held such authority in the papal enclave.
Only weeks earlier, he had named Sister Simona Brambilla as the head of a major Vatican department, making her the first woman to lead the body overseeing global Catholic religious orders.
These historic appointments were emblematic of Francis’ efforts to bring more women into positions of influence at the heart of the Church’s governance. However, his decision to avoid confronting the question of female ordination left some reformists disillusioned.
Although he formed two commissions to study the possibility of allowing women to serve as deacons—ordained ministers who cannot preside over Mass—Francis refrained from pushing forward with concrete changes. Instead, he often reiterated the Church’s longstanding stance on the matter, reaffirming Pope John Paul II’s 1994 ban on women priests.
A Mixed Legacy
“Pope Francis’ legacy on the place of women in the Church … is complex,” said Anna Rowlands, a British academic and occasional Vatican adviser.
“He did more than any other pontiff to ensure that women are included in greater numbers and higher positions of authority,” added Rowlands, a professor at Durham University. “Yet, most of that change was precisely within existing parameters, flexing the system (only) a little.”
Paola Lazzarini, an Italian church reform advocate, acknowledged Francis as “the first pope to be fully aware that the Church suffers from a glaring and profoundly unjust imbalance” between men and women.
“(But) his way of responding to this injustice was to make appointments on an individual basis and establish commissions that went on forever and led to nothing,” she said.
The first commission on women deacons, active from 2016 to 2019, was tasked with exploring historical evidence suggesting women were ordained in early Christianity. Although a report was submitted to the Vatican, it was never published. Francis later stated that the commission failed to reach a consensus—a claim that some members have since disputed.
A second commission was launched in 2020 but never reached a conclusion.
Opening Doors at the Vatican
Despite halting progress on clerical ordination, Francis steadily appointed women to positions of leadership across Vatican institutions.
In 2016, he appointed Barbara Jatta as the first female director of the Vatican Museums. In 2021, Sister Nathalie Becquart became the first woman to serve as co-undersecretary of the Synod of Bishops, the body responsible for organizing major ecclesiastical summits. A year later, Sister Alessandra Smerilli was named the second-ranking official in the Vatican’s development office, which focuses on justice and peace issues.
In another significant move, Francis appointed two women to the previously all-male committee responsible for selecting bishops—an influential step toward diversifying leadership.
“This way, things are opening up a bit,” he told Reuters in a 2022 interview.
Rowlands observed that the pope tried to demonstrate “so much is possible that we are not yet doing” when it came to women’s leadership in the Church.
Francis also made history by allowing women to vote for the first time at synodal assemblies. At the October 2024 synod, nearly 60 women participated as full members, joining over 300 male cardinals, bishops, and priests.
Elevating the Conversation
Phyllis Zagano, a member of the first deacon commission and a professor at Hofstra University, remarked: “Francis brought the conversation about women in the Church to a new level, and we can only hope that his efforts to teach the world the value of every person will bear fruit in these troubled times.”
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Catherine Clifford, a Canadian theologian involved in drafting the final text of the 2024 synod, noted that the inclusion of women in the synod “created a space for the voice of women to be truly heard.”
“This has led to the broad recognition of the urgent need to include the participation of women in … decision-making at every level of the Church,” said Clifford, a professor at Saint Paul University in Ottawa.
Controversies and Limitations
At times, Francis’ remarks on women drew criticism for sounding outdated. During a 2024 visit to Belgium, he faced backlash for describing women as having “a fertile welcome, care (and) vital devotion.” The university where he spoke issued a statement expressing “incomprehension and disapproval.”
He also defended his stance against female clergy by warning against a kind of “masculinity in a skirt.”
“(He) seemed to struggle to find language, and indeed sometimes jokes, that didn’t alienate,” Rowlands noted.
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Nonetheless, Francis earned respect for championing issues that disproportionately affect women, such as human trafficking and economic exploitation.
“On the social questions that affect women most adversely he won the admiration of many women who saw few speaking for them with such care and conviction on the world stage,” Rowlands added.
Natalia Imperatori-Lee, a religious studies professor at Manhattan College, emphasized the long-term value of Francis’ efforts.
“Overall, Francis helped the cause of women in the church. By elevating women to decision-making positions in the Vatican, and by entertaining a discussion of the diaconate of women, he opened doors that were previously closed,” she said.
