International panel presents expectations for Pope Francis’s successor by Michael Centore

Friends, members, and associates of We Are Church International, a Catholic Church–reform group celebrating its 30th anniversary, gathered on May 2 to recognize the accomplishments of Pope Francis and lay out their expectations for his successor.

The conference conducted over Zoom featured nine speakers from organizations including We Are Church, the Women’s Ordination Conference, the Wijngaards Institute for Catholic Social Research, and the Australasian Catholic Coalition for Church Reform.

Colm Holmes, chair of We Are Church International, spoke of the “high standard” Pope Francis set with his commitment “to the core mission of our church: for the poor, for refugees, for immigrants, for climate change, for care for our earth and environment.”

Francis “laid the foundation for the possibility of real change in the future” of the church, Holmes said. Still, he cautioned, “equality is seen as a huge challenge to the clerical patriarchy.” This includes the equality of women, laypeople, married people, and LGBTQ+ people, Holmes explained.

Referring to one of Francis’s favorite images to represent a bottom-up governance style, he asked, “Will [Francis’s] successor seek to establish the inverted pyramid, or will his successor fortify the patriarchy?”

Christian Weisner, a founding member of We Are Church in Germany, expressed gratitude that Francis “has started a process of spiritual and pastoral transformation over the last twelve years.”

We Are Church was founded in Austria in 1995 in response to the sexual abuse crisis. Since then, it has expanded to work on all continents for “renewal of Roman Catholic Church in line with Second Vatican Council,” Weisner said.

We Are Church “calls on the cardinals to take the signs of the time seriously,” he said, and “elect a successor who will continue and intensify” Francis’s reforms with “courage and vigor.”

“Christianity has to be proclaimed and practiced in a credible and contemporary manner. Only in this way will it be possible to truly overcome the internal and external crises of credibility in the Roman Catholic Church,” he said.

Theologian and journalist Virginia Saldanha of Mumbai, India, said that it was “disheartening” to see the Catholic Church still “entrenched in patriarchy,” to the point of barring women from participating in the upcoming conclave.

“Is it not time for the Catholic Church to think about appointing women as cardinals, to enable them to join the men in electing a new pope?” she asked. “What are the possible arguments for leaving women out of this important election that affects every member of the church worldwide?”

By leaving women out of conclave, she said, “a negative message is sent to women, that we have no competence.”

It was a sentiment echoed by Kate McElwee, executive director of the Women’s Ordination Conference. “There is no greater example of the unfinished work of the Synod on Synodality than an all-male conclave,” she said.

McElwee praised Pope Francis for bringing “a refreshing and deeply pastoral presence to the papacy” and for making “significant appointments of women to top positions at the Vatican in roles previously reserved for men.”

“We ask that the next pontiff double these efforts to include qualified women into these leadership roles,” she said.

McElwee also asked that the next leader “guide the church toward embracing the fullness of women’s equality” and embrace the vocation of women to ordained ministry as “a gift from God, calling the church toward wholeness.”

Edson Silva, a lay Christian from Brazil who works with We Are Church São Paulo, made a similar appeal. Speaking in Portuguese, he said, “May the next pope present to the world and the church the cultural and pastoral riches of his people, their experiences of faith and social commitment. May it recognize that unity is the expression of love in the face of diversity of ministries, charisms, genders, sexualities, and cultures.”

Silva also singled out the “base ecclesial communities” that were mentioned several times in the Synod’s Final Document, requesting that they “be recognized as a new way of being church.”

For theologian Nontando Hadebe of South Africa, a member of the Circle of Concerned African Women Theologians, the continuation of the synodal process is paramount for the next papacy.

Hadebe envisioned the participation of laypeople in the election of bishops as a first step toward a more inclusive, transparent conclave. “We need to move to a new vision, where the secrecy, the mystery, doesn’t even need to be there, that there is full participation of the laity,” she said.

Hadebe also stressed how “Pope Francis brought the world to us” though his teachings on ecological conversion. She said she hopes the next pope inspires the faithful to move beyond limited, reductionist ways of thinking that cause polarization.

“We need to explode and look at the universe, where trillion is the bottom line,” she said, adding, “We are an expansive people in our generosity, in our forgiveness, in our generation of ideas, in our entire way of thinking.”

Representing the Australasian Catholic Coalition for Church Reform, Kevin Liston said that the church needs a leader “to take us forward to the level of our times, into the 21st century.”

Francis furthered a Christian mission “to transform life for everyone,” Liston said. “There is no going back. That would be walking out on the Spirit.”

Liston evoked an image of the next pope as someone “courageous, interiorly free, and credible” who must “gently bear the weight of the church” and be for all “a living sign of the compassion of God.”

The pontiff should be a “shepherd of the gospel who leads not with power, but with love,” he said.

Martha Heizer, a cofounder of We Are Church Austria, opened her remarks by quoting Francis by way of Henri de Lubac: “I dream of a church without clericalism.”

Heizer defined clericalism as when “ordained men feel superior and are treated accordingly.” This “monopolizes the teaching, the sacraments, and the administration of our church,” she said.

As an alternative, Heizer offered “implementing the common priesthood of all the people of God.”

“The church needs to be democratized with greater involvement of the people of God in all areas of church governance,” she said. Incorporating the “gifts and charisms of all the baptized” at various levels of church government would help eradicate corruption and foster greater transparency, she continued.

Luca Badini Confalonieri, director of the Wijngaards Institute, offered some practical suggestions for stemming clericalism, including greater subsidiarity and decentralization within the church.

The discussion of a church constitution and its norms “must be rekindled and brought to a positive conclusion,” Confalonieri said. He cited one such proposed constitution drafted by the Wijngaards Institute.

The proposed constitution has two main goals, Confalonieri explained: to decentralize decision-making and make it more participatory, and to implement mandatory pastoral councils with lay election of church leaders, following the practice of the first millennium of the church.

Decentralization “is absolutely crucial not only for the future of the Catholic Church in general, but for the role of future popes, too,” he said.

“A culture of respectful mutual listening and dialogue among churches is the only way to allow individuals and local churches to act according to their deeply held, prayerfully discerned beliefs about what the gospel requires of them in their own specific societies and cultures,” he said.

He added, “We hope the next pope will work to give back to the local churches the responsibilities that are theirs.” ♦

Michael Centore is the editor of Today’s American Catholic.