TP O'Mahony: Will the Catholic Church ever have a female Pope?

Churches across the Western world are growing more empty and vocations have all but dried up as a question looms ever more urgently: ‘What place for women in the Church?’

Pope Francis meets students of the Louvain Catholic University last month. Professors and students there issued a strongly-worded press release moments after Francis spoke, in which they said they wanted to express their 'incomprehension and disapproval' about his views on the role of women in society. Photo: AP/Andrew Medichini

If Kamala Harris makes history next month by becoming the first female President of the United States, this will inevitably prompt the question in some quarters — when will the Catholic Church have a female Pope?

Given that it doesn’t yet ordain women to the priesthood or the episcopate, for many this question will seem like something out of a work of ecclesiastical science fiction.