While speaking to some of the most notable figures of the Roman Curia, Pope Francis emphasized the irrefutable importance of women in the Church.
His address was to members of the Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, which manages the affairs related to liturgical reform and practice. Speaking off the cuff, he said:
POPE FRANCIS
The Church is woman, the Church is mother, the Church has its figure in Mary, and the Church-woman, whose figure is Mary, is greater than Peter, she is something else. You cannot reduce everything to ministeriality.
He added that since the Church is a woman, reforming the Church is always a matter of “spousal fidelity.”
And when it comes to liturgical formation, the Pope encouraged the members to take advantage of Sunday's and Feast Days.
POPE FRANCIS
Beginning with the assemblies that gather on the Lord's Day and the feasts of the liturgical year: these constitute the first concrete opportunity for liturgical formation. And so too can be other moments when people participate more in the celebrations and their preparation: I am thinking of patronal feasts, or the Sacraments of Christian initiation.
Before closing, he reminded the members of the Dicastery that their task and service to the Church is both great and beautiful.
AT
