Papal nuncio in Paris to meet women who applied for jobs requiring ordination

Marie-Automne Thepot's mobile phone rang on the morning of July 27th and, to her surprise, the call was from the papal nuncio’s office.

The 42-year-old project manager at the Paris City Hall was one of seven women who on July 22nd sent letters to the nuncio, Archbishop Celestino Migliore, to “apply” for ministerial positions reserved to ordained men only.

Thepot made herself a candidate for the diaconate and the call from the nunciature was to inform her that Archbishop Migliore, who arrived in France just last March, would like to meet individually with her and the others.

The seven are united in a common conviction, which they put forth in a communiqué the day they stood in front of the apostolic nunciature and announced their action.

"The absence of women in positions of responsibility - be it in the governance of our parishes, dioceses, the Vatican or as ordained ministers - constitutes a scandal as much as a counter-witness of the Church," they explained.

"Progress"

The seven women were inspired by a similar initiative that was launched earlier in the year when lay theologian Anne Soupa publicly announced that she had written the papal nuncio to declare her candidacy to be Archbishop of Lyon.

Some saw this as a good, healthy kick in the door, while others feared it was a counterproductive provocation. But the new initiative certainly caught Archbishop Migliore’s attention.

Four of the six women said they had been invited to fix an individual appointment to meet with him in September.

Contacted by La Croix, an official at the nunciature said it wished "to make no comment on the issue".

"There has already been some progress with regard to the candidacy of Anne Soupa, who has received no reaction from the Church,” said journalist Alix Baye.

She’s the spokeswoman for "All Apostles", a collective created at the end of July to support this latest initiative of the seven women.

“We are coming out of contemptuous silence," Baye said.

"We hail the process of dialogue"

"For the time being, only four out of seven of us have been contacted, those who had written their telephone numbers in their application files," said Thepot.

She said she will make sure the nuncio meets all the women candidates.

"We welcome the process of dialogue because it is precisely what we were looking for: to open a discussion on the place of women in the Church," she emphasized.

"We are going to be received individually, although we had asked to be received together,” she noted with some disappointment.

“This is not a small thing since we do not want to be divided into good and bad activists according to our life choices, theological experience or marital status… ," she said.

In fact, the seven candidates come from very diverse backgrounds.

For instance, Christina Moreira already claims priestly status, having been ordained in 2015 in Florida by the Association of Roman Catholic Women Priests.

Death threats

Sylvaine Landrivon, a 64-year-old candidate for bishop, was delighted to get the call from the nunciature. But the excitement was short-lived.

Just a few minutes after she hung up, she found an anonymous death threat addressed to her in her mailbox.

"We are looking forward to your next reformation or even your next Council. The Church is counting on you. But hurry, for death may surprise you," the letter said.

"I went to the police station to file a complaint," she Landrovin, who has a doctorate in theology.

The place of women in Church governance is a controversial issue that is regularly in the news.

While some of the "seven candidates" are actively campaigning for the female priesthood, others are not.

Instead, they see their candidacy as a way to accelerate the pace of debate on the place and consideration of women in the Church.

The "All Apostles" collective sees Archbishop Migliore’s willingness to meet the women as a first victory.