Women, society and the Roman Catholic Apostolic Church

Abstract

The patriarchal inheritance of women’s inferiority, in intellectual terms, still looms large these days, bringing disrespect and devaluation of women into domestic spaces, as well as in the public and religious spheres. The result is the lack of female participation in decision-making processes, as well as the increasing violence we are witness to daily. In this article, we will bring a historical retrospective of violence against women since Bible times (OT and NT), how this negative view was inserted into Christianity, and reached our days. We will see how women have worked intensely to modify this reality. The feminist movement will also be analyzed in how important it has been in this struggle and how women’s study of theology had led them to encounter the liberating God and enabled feminist theologies. These, with their developments have collaborated to bring new theological perspectives, teaching women to see their potential. Finally, it will address the small changes that the Catholic Church has made, since the arrival of Pope Francis, and the desired prospects.