But overall, Leo has a positive track record on promoting women to church leadership, and he became a priest in a heady time, when the demand for women’s ordination echoed powerfully in the church.

In an October 2023 interview, Pope Leo XIV, or Cardinal Robert F. Prevost, was questioned about calls for women’s governance in the Catholic Church. He responded that "clericalizing women" would ...

Then he addressed the question of women deacons. Even so, he said, “two commissions on women deacons indicate there is certainly openness to giving that question consideration.” So, that was that.

Maria Lia Zervino was among the three women Francis appointed to the Dicastery for Bishops in 2022 to review possible appointments. It was a job previously held by cardinals and bishops, an old ...

While Leo XIV's predecessor Pope Francis made historic strides in appointing women to leadership roles -- including Sister Raffaella Petrini as executive of Vatican State, the highest-ranking ...

Women who want to be Catholic deacons are hopeful about Pope Leo XIV. Here's why Those who've been advocating for women deacons in the Catholic Church are taking stock of the possibility under the ...

Even those who knew Leo in the 1970s and ’80s say they are not sure what he thought of the conversations and the activism around the question of women’s ordination.

Pope Leo's stance on issues, from climate to LGBTQ+ to politics Pope Leo XIV is seen as a centrist who shares his predecessor's progressive views on certain social issues. Here's what we know so far.

Those who knew Leo when he was a bishop in Chiclayo, Peru, say he also supported leadership roles for lay women in social organizations. Before Bishop Prevost arrived in Chiclayo, the diocese had ...

Pope Leo XIV poses with women at the end of his first weekly general audience in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican, May 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino) ...

Those who’ve worked with Pope Leo XIV are optimistic he’ll elevate women’s roles — with limits Catholic women do much of the church’s work in schools and hospitals and are usually ...