Received in Rome: With Papa Francesco

Elizabeth Young rsm, 30 September 2024

In yesterday’s first reading, for the 26th Sunday of Ordinary Time, Moses said, “If only the whole people of the Lord were prophets, and the Lord gave his Spirit to them all!” Well, today’s experience felt like the Spirit speaking through voices from all around the world.

On our first full day of pilgrimage in Rome, I was very privileged to be part of a meeting with Pope Francis. It started with Franciscan Sister, Laura Vicuna CF, from Brazil, who is the vice president of the Ecclesial Conference of the Amazon (CEAMA). She had previously met with Pope Francis about women’s ministry, and CEAMA requested this next meeting to continue the conversation, expanding it to include women from the various peripheries of the world. Cardinal Pedro Barreto, president of CEAMA, accompanied us and stayed on to dialogue about our local experiences.

We left our AirBnB at 6:10am, entering Vatican City as the gates were opening at 6:30am. We were then led through a series of ornate rooms and antechambers before the meeting at 8:00am. It was all rather awe-inspiring and I wondered what our humble saviour from Nazareth would think of it all. Still, we supported each other in prayer and Sr Laura broke into spontaneous hymns.

As we were ushered in to meet Pope Francis, we each presented gifts, ranging from images of St Phoebe to testimonies of women to “my faith and my prayers”. I had brought a page with photos and names of the children of our ecumenical Good News Club in Wilcannia, Paakantyi Country. We then sat down and Sr Laura explained more about the genesis of our meeting and the graces of the synodal journey. She became quite emotional sharing about how this had brought women in ministry together from across the world.

Sr Laura then invited each of us to share our communities, roles and ministries in the church. This included Casey Stanton from Discerning Deacons, who connected with Pope Francis over prison ministry, and shared her organisation’s dream for a renewed diaconate for men and women. Sister Terezinha Dalcegio, another Franciscan from Brazil, described her 43 years of ministering in diaconal ways in the Amazon. We heard from 3 women from Canada, one presenting the other as “my deacon”. Rosella Kinoshameg was commissioned by her bishop as a member of the Diocesan Order of Service in the year 2000 and, as a residential school survivor, Odawa/Ojibway elder and chair of the Indigenous Reconciliation Fund, has a key leadership role in reconciliation and healing. JoAnn Lopez, as a young immigrant parish worker, shared how much young people are inspired by synodality. It has been such a gift to them, allowing them to see that, “We are the Church.” Pope Francis smiled at that.

No matter what was said, however, we were a visual representation of ministries at the world’s peripheries, and Pope Francis was clearly glad to receive us. He spoke of the value of women to the Church, and how their leadership has been transformational. He thanked us for our work and desire to serve, and affirmed the importance of women’s contributions.

Sisters Laura and Terezinha concluded our time with Pope Francis by singing a song from the Amazon about how all of life is connected. Then we shared the Our Father together in our native languages, praying for him and the Synod on the cusp of its Second Session. We had one more handshake or hug on the way out, and felt the strength of his lively and positive attitude. Thank you, Pope Francis, for receiving us, and for leading the way in a Church that listens and prays together.

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For another story on this meeting: https://www.ncronline.org/vatican/vatican-news/ministry/pope-francis-meets-women-ministry-advocates-ahead-synod-opening