International
Synod approves women’s access to diaconate, calls for greater inclusion in the church
The final document approved by the Synod on Synodality, a major listening project in the Catholic Church initiated by Pope Francis in 2021, opens the door for women to access the diaconate, an ordained ministry similar to that of priests, which allows, among other things, to baptize, bless marriages, and celebrate the liturgy of the Word. Until now, this ministry has been reserved exclusively for men in the Catholic Church.
Paragraph 60 of this document—which is non-binding and merely reflects the majority opinion of the 368 synod fathers and mothers who participated in the synodal assembly over the past three weeks—states that “the question of women’s access to the diaconal ministry remains open.”
“Greater discernment is necessary in this regard,” the text reads. It also calls for “the full application of all opportunities already provided for in current legislation regarding the role of women, particularly in areas that have yet to be explored.” “There is nothing in women that prevents them from assuming leadership roles in the churches: what comes from the Holy Spirit must not be stopped,” the text continues.
Additionally, the document calls for more attention to be paid to “the language and imagery used in preaching, teaching, catechesis, and the drafting of official church documents, giving more space to the contributions of holy women, theologians, and mystics.”
The Vatican also provided a tally of the votes received for each of the 155 paragraphs that make up this document.
Thus, the aforementioned paragraph 60, which discusses the role of women in the Church and states that they continue to encounter “obstacles to obtaining fuller recognition of their charisms, vocation, and place in the various areas of church life,” was validated with 258 votes in favor and 97 against, making it, by far, the most opposed section.
In fact, the remaining paragraphs, which include other concrete proposals to make the Church a more inclusive and less clerical space, found greater consensus, as only two other proposals faced opposition of more than 40 votes against.
One of these is paragraph 125, which proposes that Episcopal Conferences may have a theological and legal statute, as well as further defining their doctrinal and disciplinary competencies without jeopardizing “the unity and catholicity of the Church.”
Specifically, it notes that this competency “can favor the authentic teaching of the one faith in a contextually appropriate manner, identifying liturgical, catechetical, and disciplinary expressions.”
Paragraph 148 has also faced opposition—it emphasizes the need for the discernment and formation processes for candidates for the priesthood to be configured in a synodal style with greater female presence in the selection process—this proposal was supported by 315 votes in favor and 40 against.
In particular, it calls for a “significant presence of female figures” in the selection process of seminarians, as well as “in the daily life of communities and education to collaborate with all in the Church and practice ecclesial discernment.”
The final document also greenlights the creation of “ministries” specifically for laypeople, which would not necessarily have to be linked to the liturgical sphere. This possibility was already opened by the Second Vatican Council and illustrated in recent years through the establishment of the ministries of catechist, lector, and acolyte.
International
China shows at the UN its “condemnation” of Israel for the “violation of Iran’s sovereignty”
The Chinese ambassador to the United Nations, Fu Cong, showed the “condemnation” of his country against the “violation of the sovereignty, security and territorial integrity of Iran” after the air attack launched by Israel against multiple targets in that country, the official newspaper Diario del Pueblo reports this Saturday.
That media echoes Fu’s speech to the UN Security Council on Friday, in which he demanded that Israel “immediately stop all its military actions.”
“China (…) opposes the expansion of conflicts, and is deeply concerned about the serious consequences that may arise from Israel’s actions. The intensification of regional tensions does not interest any of the parties involved,” said the Chinese emissary.
Beijing called on Tel Aviv and Tehran to “resolve their disputes through political and diplomatic means, and maintain peace and stability at the regional level jointly.”
In Fu’s view, the Israeli attack will have a “negative impact” on the negotiations on Iran’s nuclear program: “China has always been committed to the peaceful resolution of the Iranian nuclear issue through dialogue and consultations, and opposes the use of force, illegal unilateral sanctions and armed attacks on peaceful nuclear facilities.”
This Friday, China had already expressed its willingness to “play a constructive role” to curb the escalation of tensions and facilitate conciliation, in line with its traditional position of active neutrality in the region’s conflicts.
The Israeli attack, which according to Tehran caused dozens of deaths, including senior military commanders and at least six nuclear scientists, targeted key facilities such as the uranium enrichment plant in Natanz. Numerous civilian casualties were also reported.
Israel justified the offensive by claiming that the Iranian regime is secretly developing a program to manufacture nuclear weapons.
For his part, Iran’s supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, promised a “severe response” and assured that the attack would reveal the “evil nature” of Israel.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres also expressed concern about the bombing, at a time when Iran and the US The United States is holding talks about the Iranian nuclear program.
International
Donald Trump’s government pauses its program of indiscriminate raides against migrants
The government of US President Donald Trump has decided to pause its campaign of discretionary roundings against migrants in certain areas due to its apparent concern about the growing unpopularity of these methods, according to The New York Times newspaper on Friday.
According to an email to which the newspaper has had access and the confirmation of US officials, the Executive has ordered the Immigration and Customs Control Service (ICE) to pause the beatings that affect the agricultural industry and the hospitality industry.
The spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security, Tricia McLaughlin, confirmed in a statement that “the president’s instructions” will be obeyed and the portfolio will also continue to “work to get the worst illegal foreign criminals out of the streets of the United States.”
The decision points out that this campaign of discretionary arrests to try to deport large-scale immigrants is harming industries and electoral constituencies whose support Trump wants to retain for next year’s legislative elections.
The new instructions were transmitted to ICE in an email sent last Thursday asking that “all investigations/law enforcement operations be suspended in work centers in the agricultural sector (including aquaculture and meat packing plants), restaurants and hotels.”
These new guidelines come in turn after more than a week of intense protests in Los Angeles against this immigration policy and that Trump himself admitted that the raids seem to be affecting the agricultural sector, which in states like California, where beatings have intensified, depend almost exclusively on immigrant labor.
Since his return to the White House in January, Trump has implemented an aggressive policy of hard hand against immigration and as a sample of his Cabinet officials recently held a meeting with the ICE leadership to order them to carry out 3,000 arrests a day, a mandate that seems to be behind the intensification of the raids.
International
Trump says he knew “everything” about the attack on Iran and assures that the dialogue remains open
US President Donald Trump said on Friday that Washington “known everything” about the Israeli attack on Iran and that the dialogue on Tehran’s nuclear program “is not dead.”
“We knew everything and I tried to avoid Iran all this humiliation and death. I tried hard to avoid it because I would have loved to see an agreement,” Trump said in an interview with Reuters.
The US president insisted on what he wrote today about the attack on social networks, where he said he gave an ultimatum of 60 days to Tehran to reach an agreement.
“We knew practically everything. We knew enough to give Iran 60 days to reach an agreement and today it is already 61 days,” he explained in the interview, in which he said he did not know what the current situation of the Iranian nuclear program is after the attack launched by Israel, which also ended the lives of key military leaders of the Persian country.
Regarding the dialogue between the US and Iran about the nuclear program of the ayatollahs, Trump assured that “he is not dead”, that “an agreement is still possible” and also recalled that on Sunday a sixth round of dialogue is scheduled in Muscat (Oman) that they consider is now in the air.
“We have a meeting with them on Sunday. Now, I’m not sure if that meeting will take place, but we have a meeting with them on Sunday,” he said.
The United States and Iran have held five rounds of talks on the Iranian nuclear program since April, with Washington demanding that Tehran discard its capabilities both to manufacture an atomic bomb and to enrich uranium, something that the ayatollahs considered unacceptable.
Both Israel and Trump himself had warned of possible preventive attacks on the Persian country due to this refusal by Iran.
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