IRELAND
Irish Central
Patrick Counihan @irishcentral March 01,2014
Former Irish President Mary McAleese has demanded more influence for women in the Catholic Church.
The well-known politician and now a theologian told a Cambridge University gathering that women, the laity and the Bishops must be given more power by the Vatican church leaders.
McAleese said bishops should not be yes men for those who run the Church from Rome, the Irish Times reports.
She said: “Bishops should be encouraged not to be yes men but leaders who can speak freely, who consult with rank-and-file Catholics and then make decisions along with the pope.
“Senior church leaders have until now believed the church could only survive through unquestioning obedience to the exclusively top-down teaching magisterium.
“That tight-grip approach has had very damaging consequences for the church in the modern world.”
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