Women hopeful of change in Church

FOR decades, women have been waiting for a change in the Catholic Church’s attitude towards them, and now once again with the election of a new pope many are harbouring similar hopes.

Some are taking a more militant stance than in the past, with the international Women’s Ordination Conference planning to release pink smoke in Rome and at least five US cities tomorrow to mark the start of the conclave.

But many others are not as militant and thought that they would have an opportunity to play a greater role because faced with the drastic reduction in the number of priests a pragmatic Church would ordain women.