Women priests secretly ordained in the shadow of the Vatican

On a barge on Rome's River Tiber, a stone's throw from the Vatican, Loan Rocher was "ordained" in a secret ceremony in defiance of the Catholic Church's ban on women deacons and priests.

Dressed in a white robe with a rainbow stole, the 68-year-old Frenchwoman acknowledged her ordination was unauthorized by the Vatican, where a month-long summit on the future of the Church concludes next week.

No matter, said Rocher, who is transgender.

"They've been repeating the same message for 2,000 years -- women are inferior, subordinate, invisible. It's okay. We've waited long enough, so I'm doing it now," Rocher told AFP.

Thursday's ceremony in three languages, organised with the utmost discretion in the presence of around 50 faithful from several countries, followed the same liturgy as an official mass, with readings from the Bible, singing and Communion.

Yet it was illegal in the eyes of the Church.

Even more, canonical law says the six ordinands -- three priests and three deacons, including Rocher and another transgender person -- should all be excluded from the Catholic community, along with the ceremony's other participants.

Such excommunication would be an unjustified sanction according to US "bishop" Bridget Mary Meehan.

She belongs to the group organizing the event, which says it has performed 270 ordinations of women in 14 countries since its creation in 2002.

"For 22 years, we have worked hard to create a more inclusive, loving church where LGBTQ, divorced and remarried (people) -- everyone -- is welcome at the table. No-one is excluded," said Meehan, 76.

On the upper deck of the barge, the six candidates committed to "serving the people of God" before an altar decorated with candles and two crowns of flowers.

Then one by one, the members of the congregation laid their hands on the heads of the newly ordained to bless them.

- 'Cold shower' -

In recent weeks, feminist associations have multiplied initiatives to put pressure on the ongoing Synod, which began in 2021 and is due to end this month.

The groups -- occasionally supported by theologians -- condemn the way women are marginalized by the patriarchal system, despite their central role in parishes around the world.

Unlike other Christian denominations like Protestantism, the Catholic Church remains firmly opposed to the ordination of women.

They are relegated instead to support roles, whether in catechism or education, as nuns or lay people.

The agenda of the Synod summit in October 2023 included a proposal to admit women as deacons -- ministers who can celebrate baptisms, marriages and funerals but not mass.

But that idea has now been ruled out.

The pope, 87, himself excluded it during a CBS television interview in May, to the astonishment of activists.

"It was a cold shower," said Adeline Fermanian from the Comite de la Jupe, a French Catholic feminist group that has been campaigning on the issue since 2008.

Fermanian told AFP the Church's "authoritarian" response and the decision to remove women's ordination from the Synod agenda was "totally out of step" with the philosophy of the summit, which is based on consulting the faithful, including women, around the world.

- 'The hierarchy is afraid' -

Some participants at the Synod say the appeals for more inclusion of women is too Western a concept and certain regions of the world, such as Africa, are not yet ready for women deacons for cultural reasons.

Since becoming pontiff in 2013, Pope Francis has repeatedly stressed the merits of women, including in September, when he declared: "The Church is a woman!"

The Argentine pontiff has also appointed women to important roles within the government of the Holy See.

But he does not see women's central role within the Church as including ministry -- a vision the feminist groups view as misogynistic and retrograde.

"They overpraise our qualities. They make women practically into goddesses... and they tell them 'You're serving. It's the most beautiful vocation'", said Fermanian.

"In fact, it's a strategy to sideline and discriminate."

Sixty years after the Second Vatican Council, which sought to equip the Church for the modern world, the institution is fighting for its survival, according to these activists.

But the women ordained in Rome are not losing hope.

"I prefer to be someone who moves forward, rather than one who complains," said Loan.

Meehan summed up the mood: "The hierarchy is afraid but the people are not afraid.

"And they love women priests."