Vatican Conference Draws All Stripes to Rome, Welcome or Not
Rome is a Catholic menagerie these days. An excommunicated woman dressed in red bishop’s robes is marching toward the Vatican behind a procession of would-be female priests.
Conservative culture warriors are headlining theaters, delivering screeds against Pope Francis before marginalized cardinals and exorcists sitting in velvet seats.
The abortion-rights leader of Catholics for Choice is knocking on Vatican doors. Progressives will hold a meeting this week that includes panels with titles such as “Patriarchy, Where Did It All Begin?” They have all descended on the Italian capital hoping to share the spotlight cast on a major assembly of more than 400 bishops and lay Catholics, called by Pope Francis to discuss issues vital to the church’s future — the ordination of women deacons, the celibacy of the clergy, the blessing of same-sex couples.
The smorgasbord of juicy topics at the confidential Vatican meeting, known as the Synod on Synodality, has drawn every ideological stripe of Catholic activist, culture warrior and special interest group.
