Pope opens Vatican meeting amid tensions with conservatives

RELIGIONS NEWS AGENCY (REDNA) – Pope Francis has opened an important meeting on the future of the Catholic Church, with progressives hoping it will lead to more women in leadership roles and conservatives warning that church doctrine on everything from homosexuality to the hierarchy’s authority is at risk.

Aljazeera reported Francis presided over a solemn mass in St Peter’s Square on Wednesday to formally open the meeting, with hundreds of clergy from around the world celebrating on the altar before the rank-and-file Catholic lay people whose presence and influence at this meeting marks a decisive shift for the Catholic Church.

Rarely in recent times has a Vatican gathering generated as much hope, hype and fear as this three-week, closed-door meeting, known as a synod. It won’t make any binding decisions and is only the first session of a two-year process.

But it nevertheless has drawn an acute battle line in the church’s perennial left-right divide and marks a defining moment for Francis and his reform agenda.

Even before it started, the gathering was historic because Francis decided to let women and lay people vote alongside bishops in any final document produced.

While fewer than a quarter of the 365 voting members are non-bishops, the reform is a radical shift away from a hierarchy-focused Synod of Bishops and evidence of Francis’s belief that the church is more about its flock than its shepherds.