THE Pope has invited the Bishop for Episcopal Ministry in the Anglican Communion, Dr Jo Bailey Wells, to be part of the Roman Catholic Church’s ongoing reflections on the part played by women in the Church.

Dr Bailey Wells attended a meeting of the Pope and the International Council of Cardinals, alongside two other women — Sister Linda Pocher, a professor of Christology and Mariology at Pontifical Faculty of Educational Sciences Auxilium in Rome, and Giuliva Di Berardino, a consecrated virgin from the diocese of Verona.

The meeting was one of four seminars in which different voices were heard on the subject of women in the Church.

In a preface to a book of essays, Making the Church Less Masculine? A critical evaluation of the “principles” of Hans Urs von Balthasar, Pope Francis wrote that “we have not listened enough to the voice of women in the Church and . . . the Church still has much to learn from them.”

He said that the reflections were intended to “open rather than close” and to “provoke thinking, invite seeking, and aid praying”.

The Pope said: “This is what I desire at this point in the synodal process, that we do not tire of walking together, because only when we walk are we what we must be — the living body of the Risen One on the move, going forth, meeting our brothers and sisters, without fear, on the streets of the world.”

Dr Bailey Wells was “honoured” to be invited to the meeting. “There was deep engagement and some good discussion. And, in the aftermath, I am just amazed at the interest from Catholics all around the world. I hope and pray it will serve to enable more women to explore and fulfil the calling God gives to each one of us.”

Sister Pocher told the news agency Europa Press this week that, while “there is no reflection on the priestly ordination of women in the Catholic Church,” the Pope “is very much in favour of the female diaconate”.