Pope Advocates Larger Role for Women in Church

Pope John Paul II appears to have opened the door a bit further for women in the Roman Catholic Church, stating in a document released Thursday that women should be encouraged to promote a “new feminism” in education and decision-making roles.

But the pontiff, in a 200-page “apostolic exhortation” on religious life, shows no sign of softening his opposition to women being ordained. In fact, he doesn’t mention it.

Instead, he writes: “It is urgently necessary to take certain concrete steps, beginning by providing room for women to participate in different fields and at all levels. . . .”

He urges women to “promote a ‘new feminism’ which rejects the temptation of imitating models of ‘male domination.’ ”

The document, “Vita Consecrata” (“Consecrated Life”), was culled from ideas expressed at a 1994 synod on life in the church in which several nuns and priests urged an enhanced role for women.