“The Church, Women with Men,” is the title of an article in the November 2019 monthly of L’Osservatore Romano on woman, dedicated to a work of French Biblicist Anne-Marie Pelletier (Le Cerf, 2019).
In it, the author recalls the awarding of the 2018 Nobel Peace Prize to a Yazidi woman — Nadia Murad — and to a Congolese Doctor — Denis Mukwege. Both, she writes, are witnesses of a human resistance stronger than the forces of evil that humiliate, enslave and destroy.
This double Nobel Prize invites not to limit oneself to “an armed face-to-face between the sexes” or to limit parity to the sharing of powers and responsibilities. Men and women are partners and collaborators in the common search for a happy life, says Anne-Marie Pelletier.
For the theologian, it’s urgent to repair the man-woman relationship: a work in depth where the Church can and must be prophetic, in responding to Pope Francis’ appeal to elaborate an “intrinsically feminine” theology.
Anne-Marie Pelletier pleads for a greater presence of women in areas of reflection and decision of the Church, and for reflection on “woman’s sign”: the fact that she cannot be ordained underscores the centrality of the “baptismal priesthood,” as proclamation of the Kingdom of God.
