Pope confers lay ministries on women, formalising recognition of roles

A new lector receives a gospel from Pope Francis during a Holy Mass held every year on the third Sunday of January to celebrate and study the Word of God, in St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican, January 23, 2022. REUTERS/Remo Casilli

Pope Francis on Sunday for the first time conferred the lay Roman Catholic ministries of lector and catechist on women, roles that previously many had carried out without institutional recognition.

He conferred the ministries at a Mass in St. Peter's Basilica, where, in an apparent reference to resistance to change by some conservative, he criticised those who need to have rigid regulations and "more rules" in order to find God.