Pope’s gathering urges guarantees over church governance roles for women

The Pope convened the synod (AP)

Pope Francis’ gathering of Catholic bishops and laypeople has concluded that it is “urgent” to guarantee fuller participation of women in church governance, and called for research on allowing women to be deacons to be released within a year.

After a month of closed-door debate, Francis’ meeting on the future of the Catholic Church ended with the approval of a 42-page text on a host of issues that will now be considered at a second session next year.