Protesters Use Pink Smoke To Protest Lack Of Women In Catholic Leadership
CHICAGO (CBS) -- As cardinals meet in Rome to elect a new Pope, Catholic women have been staging protests at the Vatican and around the U.S. to illustrate the lack of female inclusion in the Church's hierarchy.
WBBM Newsradio's Mike Krauser reports pink smoke rose from a tray held aloft by a woman standing in front of Holy Name Cathedral on Wednesday, as part of a protest of the lack of input women have in picking the leader of the Catholic Church.
Protesters Want Women In Church Leadership
"We believe that the church needs to speak to us, to dialogue with us, and we need to have the hierarchy understand that it isn't just the hierarchy who is the church; we are all the church," said Barbara Zeman, a member of Roman Catholic Womenpriests, an organization of ordained ministers that are not recognized as priests by the church.
Barbara Marian said the protesters hope one day women will be included in the leadership of the Catholic Church.
"We are always hopeful," she said. "Things are always moving. Life and reality is very dynamic. We may not see movement, but, you know, at one time the Berlin Wall came down, and people were surprised; although they had yearned for it and talked about it for years."
Donna Quinn, a nun and coordinator of the National Coalition of American Nuns, said the cardinals "should be doing cartwheels to make it more transparent – to everybody – what church is; to make it [the Sistine Chapel] truly a place where the Holy Spirit might enter. We're calling on the cardinals to take off their red robes and walk with the people of God, in a discipleship of equals, so that we will no longer have to say 'where are the women?'"
Marian wrote a quote from Galileo on a piece of paper that was pinned to her head like a veil.
"Supposedly he said 'And yet, it moves,' which reminds me to be hopeful about this church," she said.
