Pope Francis has been criticized for his stance on the role of women in society, after stating that it is “bad for women to want to be men.”
Students at a Belgian Catholic university, where the 87-year-old gave a speech yesterday afternoon, later distributed a statement expressing their “incomprehension and disapproval” of his views.
“UCLouvain… deplores the conservative positions expressed by Pope Francis on the role of women in society,” the statement said.
He had been at the educational institute, which has around 38,000 students in 20 faculties, to celebrate its upcoming 600th anniversary.
Her speech largely called for global action on climate change, but she also responded to a letter sent to her by students and professors who had asked her about the Catholic Church’s teachings on women.
Pope Francis has been criticized for his stance on the role of women in society, after stating that it is “bad for women to want to be men.”
Students at a Belgian Catholic university, where the 87-year-old gave a speech yesterday afternoon, later distributed a statement expressing their “incomprehension and disapproval” of his views.
He had been at the educational institute, which has around 38,000 students in 20 faculties, to celebrate its upcoming 600th anniversary.
“UCLouvain… deplores the conservative positions expressed by Pope Francis on the role of women in society,” the statement said.
The Pope said: ‘We must remember that women are at the very center of the history of salvation. Thanks to Mary’s “yes”, God himself came into the world.
‘The woman is a fruitful welcome, care, vital dedication. That is why women are more important than men. But it’s bad when the woman wants to be the man.
‘No, it’s the woman. And this is heavy, it is important. Let us open our eyes to the many daily examples of love, friendship, work, study, social and ecclesial responsibility, from marriage to motherhood, to virginity, for the Kingdom of God and for service.’
In response, the rector of the Catholic University of Louvain said: ‘We cannot safely agree with this position. We are fighting against discrimination against women and we would like women to have another role in society and also in the church.
“We are glad that you agree with other points in our report, but regarding the place of women in society, we cannot agree with your position.”
‘It’s very conservative and not the way we want it done in Leuven. We want to be open so that everyone can develop at our university; women, men, whatever their sexuality or sexual orientation.
‘It’s really not our position. That’s why we don’t agree with him on this point.’
Pope Francis greets the public as he meets with students and members of the Catholic University of Leuven during his three-day visit to Leuven-la-Neuve, Belgium.
Pope Francis attends a private meeting with Jesuit brothers during a visit to Collage Saint-Michel, a Jesuit school on September 28, 2024 in Brussels, Belgium.
In response, the rector of the Catholic University of Louvain said: ‘We cannot safely agree on this position. We are fighting against discrimination against women and we would like women to have another role in society and also in the church.
Pope Francis kisses a child during the Hope Happening youth festival at the Expo in Brussels, Belgium, yesterday
The Catholic Church has an all-male clergy and, although Pope Francis created two commissions to consider whether women could serve as deacons, this issue has not yet moved forward.
However, during his 11 years as pontiff, Francis also changed the Vatican’s main governing document to allow women to lead departments, and also allowed women to vote in major global meetings of bishops, known as synods, for the first time. .
Victoria Coppin, a 21-year-old civil engineering student, said: “I am quite disappointed and deeply shocked by the Pope’s statements about the place of women.
‘We can see that it is separating the roles of women and men in society by reducing women to their roles of motherhood, wives and ‘fertile host’.
‘To me, that is extremely problematic right now, especially when we know that just a couple of hours ago, he considered the position on abortion a deadly position.
‘When we hear him talk about dignity, the dignity that is in the flesh, in his speech, to me, this (comments about women) is a direct attack on the dignity of women by having this speech about abortions because his ‘Bodies are directly being seen as instruments, and that’s quite shocking to me.’
