The lay theologian Rafael Luciani, an expert for the Synod on Synodality, published an article on 31 October in L’Osservatore Romano calling for women to take part in the governance of the Church as full members, with voice and vote in ecclesial bodies. The text, titled “Women in the Governance of the Church: A Requirement Rooted in Baptism”, appeared in the “Women Church World” section of the Vatican newspaper. Luciani, professor of ecclesiology at Santa Clara University, grounds his proposal in baptismal theology and the ecclesiology of the People of God.
An “incomplete” reform until the non-ordained are recognized
The author starts from the conclusions of the study groups set up after the synodal Assembly, which propose effective participation of women in ecclesial governance. For Luciani this is not a marginal issue but one that affects the whole Church. He credits Study Group 5 with the most solid theological foundation and echoes its view that full participation “is neither a concession nor a mere claim to power, but an intrinsic requirement of the very nature of the Church.”
The problem, he argues, lies in how the subject of potestas is conceived. As long as non-ordained persons are not recognized as full subjects of ecclesial governance, the reform indicated by the Second Vatican Council will, in his judgment, remain incomplete. He nevertheless acknowledges the steps already taken, including the apostolic constitution Episcopalis communio.
Voice and vote in the bodies, not only in the dicasteries
Among his proposals, Luciani calls for women to be recognized as members with the right to speak and vote in ecclesial bodies, and not only in Vatican dicasteries, so that they are not reduced to the role of advisers or consultants. He also suggests harmonizing the current Code of Canon Law with baptismal theology and “overcoming the conception of the exercise of the power of jurisdiction as a mere exception granted by delegation.”
The theologian further proposes that the reform not be entrusted solely to commissions of canonists, but that women and men theologians work together in a collaborative, synodal manner. In his argument he adds that this step would make the Church more credible and more faithful to its vocation in a world that, he writes, is moving toward increasingly authoritarian and pyramidal socio-political models.
A line already defended in the Vatican newspaper
The article joins other texts by Luciani himself in the same section of the newspaper. In March 2026 he published “A Church Breathing with Both Lungs Needs Female Leadership,” and in May 2025 he defended structural reforms based on baptism, so that power would no longer rest on the sacrament of orders but on equal baptismal dignity. In April 2026 the same section commented on the final report of Study Group 5, a document without normative value that introduces no immediate changes and which, according to that commentary, sees no theological obstacle to a woman exercising delegated governing authority.
Luciani’s proposal effectively questions the current criterion of canon 129, which links the power of governance to those who have received holy orders and admits the cooperation of the lay faithful in its exercise.