Filipina to join Vatican assembly as Pope opens it to women for the first time

'I feel honored to be part of the Asian voice to the synod,' Filipina theologian Estela Padilla tells Rappler after Pope Francis gave her voting rights at the Synod of Bishops in October

MANILA, Philippines – A Filipina theologian is set to participate and vote at a crucial Vatican assembly after Pope Francis opened this meeting to non-bishops, including women and young people, for the first time in church history.

Estela Padilla, 59, is one of 70 “non-bishop members” appointed by the Pope himself to join the 16th Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops from October 4 to 29.

Padilla is among the 10 non-bishop members from Asia. Continental assemblies from Africa, North America, Latin America, Eastern Churches and the Middle East, Europe, and Oceania have their own sets of 10 non-bishop members joining the synod.

Padilla, who holds a doctorate in applied theology, is executive secretary of the Office of Theological Concerns at the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences. She is also a consultant to the Commission on Basic Ecclesial Communities (BECs) of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP).

“I feel honored to be part of the Asian voice to the synod,” Padilla told Rappler late Friday evening, July 7.

The Vatican released the list of participants at the Synod of Bishops in a press conference on Friday.

A synod is typically a gathering of church leaders, and the Synod of Bishops in October is part of a three-year consultative process initiated by Francis to make the Catholic Church more inclusive. Among the issues taken up are hot-button topics, such as contraception, gay marriage, and the proposed ordination of female priests.

This process, called the Synod on Synodality, is an unprecedented attempt to take the pulse of the world’s 1.3 billion Catholics, beginning with consultations in parishes and continuing on the national and continental levels. The October synod brings this process to a global level through a nearly monthlong meeting in Rome. 

While Catholic bishops have held synods almost every two years since the mid-1960s, the October synod stands out because it is the first time that voting rights went beyond bishops and a few priests. 

In April, the Vatican announced that the Pope would appoint 70 non-bishop members who “will enjoy voting rights,” along with around 300 other voting members. The Pope specified that 50% of the non-bishop members should be women and that they should also include “several young people.”

At the October synod, Padilla said she brings with her “the synodal processes we have engaged with in the Philippines, among the grassroots BECs (basic ecclesial communities), local churches and institutions, especially the voice from the margins.”

“In this journey, I will carry in my heart the keywords of my team Bukal ng Tipan: Kapwa, Simbahan, Bayan,” Padilla said.

Padilla ‘most qualified’

“It is a great honor for the Philippine Church,” said Bishop Pablo Virgilio David, president of the CBCP, in reaction to Padilla’s appointment.

David, an internationally trained Bible scholar, told Rappler that Padilla “is most qualified for the task” of participating and voting at the Synod of Bishops. 

First, David said, Padilla “is a well-grounded pastoral theologian and one of the pillars of the pastoral institute called Bukal ng Tipan,” which “has contributed immensely” in forming leaders of basic ecclesial communities and facilitating diocesan and parish pastoral planning across the  Philippines. 

Second, the bishop said, Padilla was part of the national synodal team for the Philippines and the continental synodal team for Asia. She also participated in communal discernment in Rome before the Synod Document for the Continental Stage was drafted.

David, along with two other Filipino bishops, will represent the Philippine Catholic Church at the Synod of Bishops in October. He will be accompanied by Manila Archbishop Jose Cardinal Advincula and Pasig Bishop Mylo Hubert Vergara, vice president of the CBCP.

Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, former archbishop of Manila, will also participate in the Synod of Bishops, but not as part of the CBCP. He will join as part of the Pope’s Cabinet, known as the Roman Curia, as he is pro-prefect of the powerful Dicastery for Evangelization at the Vatican.

Women’s groups in the Church have for years been demanding the right to vote at the high-profile synods, which prepare resolutions that usually lead to a papal document. This is because, in the past, the Vatican allowed women to attend the synods as auditors, but with no right to vote.

Proponents have welcomed the new synodal process as an opportunity to change the Church’s power dynamics and give a greater voice to lay Catholics, including women, and people on the margins of society.

Conservatives say the process has been a waste of time, may erode the hierarchical structure of the Church, and in the long run could dilute traditional doctrine. – with reports from Reuters/Rappler.com