By appointing a progressive “female theologian” to a position of responsibility where she will be expected to oversee the teaching provided in Church-run universities around the world, the Holy See is sending a negative signal at a time when priestly formation appears to be one of the main issues in the vocations crisis affecting an entire segment of the Catholic world.
While Francis appears to have entered a long period of convalescence, some consider it a transitional period. The progressive agenda at work under the current Pontificate is far from slowing down.
On March 21, 2025, the Holy See announced the appointment of Bénédicte Lemmelijn, a Belgian theologian and Dean of the Faculty of Theology at the Catholic University of Leuven (KU Leuven), to the Scientific Council of the Holy See Agency for the Evaluation and Promotion of the Quality of Ecclesiastical Universities and Faculties (AVEPRO).
For the record, the mission of AVEPRO—a body created by Pope Benedict XVI in 2007—is to ensure that ecclesiastical institutions maintain internationally recognized academic standards in teaching, research, and service.
The appointment of Bénédicte Lemmelijn to the AVEPRO Scientific Council places a progressive theologian in a position of influence in the evaluation of Catholic universities worldwide.
Furthermore, during this visit, Bénédicte Lemmelijn presented Francis with a book, The Bishop of Rome and the Theologians of Louvain, including a chapter calling for a "rethinking of the Church's norms on sexuality." These positions were perceived as a challenge to papal authority, exacerbated by a statement from the University of Louvain criticizing the Pope's remarks on women as "conservative" and "reductive."
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