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Pope Leo appoints pro-female ordination, pro-LGBT consultors to religious life dicastery
LifeSite News ^ | August 10, 2026 | Gaetano Masciullo

Posted on 08/10/2026 9:44:51 AM PDT by ebb tide

Pope Leo appoints pro-female ordination, pro-LGBT consultors to religious life dicastery

Among the 15 new councilors are several figures who have publicly supported heterodox positions associated with the synodal reforms of Pope Francis.

Pope Leo XIV has appointed new consultors to the Vatican’s religious life dicastery, including advocates of LGBT ideology and “women’s ordination,” greater liturgical experimentation, and structural changes to Church governance.

On August 6, Pope Leo appointed 15 new consultors to the Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, headed by Prefect Sister Simona Brambilla. The appointments include two bishops, five priests, two religious brothers, and six religious sisters, among them several figures who have publicly supported heterodox positions associated with the synodal reforms of Pope Francis.

Perhaps the most revealing appointment is Sister Patricia Murray, a former executive secretary of the International Union of Superiors General. Murray has been a prominent supporter of Francis’ understanding of so-called synodality within women’s religious life.

At a 2021 conference on synodality, Murray argued that discussions concerning controversial questions could not simply be excluded from the process. “We have to also allow the topics that people want to talk about to be named,” she said, explicitly mentioning women’s diaconate and priesthood.

Murray was also questioned about “the pain of LGBTQ+ people” during a Vatican press conference concerning the Synod on October 16, 2023. “I think, at many of the tables, if not all, the question of hurt, and the woundedness of people both individually and collectively has been dealt with and listened to,” she answered.

She said participants discussed how the Church might “represent that hurt,” adding some had argued that apologies alone for “hurts that have been caused” were insufficient.

Another relevant appointment is Sister Maria Nirmalini, an Indian religious who participated in the 2023 Synod on Synodality. In an interview with Vatican News, Nirmalini called for a “liturgical reform … with less emphasis on uniformity and more on creativity.”

She also praised Pope Francis for “including us women” and framed this as a sign that “all are included in this journey.” Paraphrasing St. Catherine of Siena, Nirmalini called women to “demand equality” and to offer their gifts “whether … legitimated or not” because “no one, not even the Church, has the right to deny the gifts of God.”

READ: Bishop says ‘homosexuality is not a sin’ at pro-LGBT conference

The Indian sister presented the Synod as a “new beginning” involving “persons at all levels of the Church” with “no one left behind,” which implies a shift away from hierarchical governance toward broad participatory processes. “Here history was being created,” Nirmalini stated. She explicitly hoped for a “substantial toning down of clericalism” and a greater emphasis by the Church on the issue of “co-responsibility in the care for creation."

Nirmalini praised Francis in unusually enthusiastic terms also on another occasion. On March 13, 2023, in a tribute marking the tenth anniversary of Francis pontificate, she described it as “a new kind of leadership, a new way of being Church” and praised what she called reforms that the Church “desperately” needed. “That was just the beginning,” she said.

She also singled out Francis’ approach to Islam as an important achievement, saying: “One of the many firsts of Pope Francis is the long stride he has made in interreligious dialogue, particularly with Muslims.”

Another newly appointed consultant is Brother Emili Turú Rofes, a Catalan Marist who served as Superior General of the Marist Brothers from 2009 to 2017. Turú has strongly promoted the synodal transformation of the Church. In an interview published in The Synodal Times on February 12, 2024, Turú described synodality as what “the Lord expects from the Church in this millennium.”

Turú also framed the Synod as a direct continuation and implementation of the Second Vatican Council, stating that “we are now in the implementation of Vatican II,” implying that the post-conciliar trajectory is a normative yet unfinished path for the Church.

In that interview, Turú said that religious communities must be ready to “shed what is not essential in their own tradition” to embrace “the newness of the Spirit.” Finally, he expressed the hope for a “new style of relationship in the Church … with believers and non-believers. I hope that in a few years, when we look back, we will be able to recognize that the journey we have made together has made us better people.”

Sister María Rosaura González Casas is another appointee whose writings and public statements point toward significant changes in the Church’s structures. The Mexican religious sister is a psychologist and professor at the Pontifical Gregorian University.

In an interview with Europa Press published on October 31, 2022, González Casas claimed that the Church has systematically failed women, and that if this continues “we will have no future as a Church.” She added that women had frequently been treated within the Church as “second-class people” and merely as “labor force,” without an adequate voice in decision-making. She attributed this situation to what she called the influence of ecclesial culture and hierarchical structures, also causing “abuse of nuns.”

The remaining appointments announced August 6 are Bishop Alfonso Vincenzo Amarante; Bishop Kevin Otieno Mwandha; priests Ignasi Fossas, Damián Astigueta, Maurizio Bevilacqua, Benjamin Earl, and Flavien Mambueni; Brother Antoine Kazindu; and Sisters Chiara Lorenzato, Mary Lembo, and Maria do Disterro Rocha Santos.

The appointments come as the Vatican dicastery responsible for consecrated life continues under the leadership of Sister Simona Brambilla, who became its prefect under Pope Francis on January 6, 2025.


TOPICS: Catholic; Current Events; Theology
KEYWORDS: antichrist; antipope; heterodox; synodalchurch; synodalpopes

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She (Nirmalini) also singled out Francis’ approach to Islam as an important achievement, saying: “One of the many firsts of Pope Francis is the long stride he has made in interreligious dialogue, particularly with Muslims.”

And Pope Leo is following in Francis' synodal footprints:

On April 13, 2026, Pope Leo described a muslim mosque as " a place that represents the space that is of God; a divine, sacred space where so many people come to pray in order to find the presence of the Most High, of God, in their lives."

1 posted on 08/10/2026 9:44:51 AM PDT by ebb tide
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To: Al Hitan; Fedora; irishjuggler; Jaded; kalee; markomalley; miele man; Mrs. Don-o; ...

Ping


2 posted on 08/10/2026 9:45:22 AM PDT by ebb tide (Francis' sin-nodal "church" is not the Catholic Church.)
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To: ebb tide

Frankee picked this fool to carry on his destruction and it is proceeding.


3 posted on 08/10/2026 9:49:38 AM PDT by gibsonguy
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To: ebb tide

The “Vicar of Christ” indeed. NOT!!!!


4 posted on 08/10/2026 9:50:37 AM PDT by fwdude (Why is there a "far/radical right," but damned if they'll admit that there is a far/radical left)
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To: gibsonguy

That’s the sad truth.


5 posted on 08/10/2026 9:51:32 AM PDT by No name given ( Anonymous is who you’ll know me as )
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To: fwdude

This pope is just like his predecessor, a heretic.


6 posted on 08/10/2026 9:52:08 AM PDT by No name given ( Anonymous is who you’ll know me as )
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To: ebb tide

No wonder my non-denominational Christian church is full of people that used to be Catholic.


7 posted on 08/10/2026 9:54:34 AM PDT by V_TWIN (America....so great even the people that hate it won't leave!)
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To: No name given

The pope isn’t the issue, the one’s who appointed him are.


8 posted on 08/10/2026 9:56:12 AM PDT by fwdude (Why is there a "far/radical right," but damned if they'll admit that there is a far/radical left)
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To: ebb tide
Leo X blundered into fracturing his church. Leo XIV is is knowingly giving the keys to Satan.

Appalling.

9 posted on 08/10/2026 9:57:26 AM PDT by niteowl77
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To: fwdude

He won the vote of over 51% of the cardinals


10 posted on 08/10/2026 9:59:25 AM PDT by alternatives?
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To: ebb tide

waiting for leo to declare that God is wrong about homosexuality and deviant lifestyles- He’s actually doing so without directly saying so- when will he go all the way and stop tergiversating?


11 posted on 08/10/2026 10:01:37 AM PDT by Bob434 (Time flies like an arrow, Fruit flies like a banana)
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To: ebb tide

Atheist pope strikes again.


12 posted on 08/10/2026 10:03:01 AM PDT by ChuckHam
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To: ebb tide

I believe they are absolutely wanting, kind of desperately, to come out - and I hope they are able to leave the Lord and his disciples out of their eventual declarations, but they probably won’t.


13 posted on 08/10/2026 10:03:21 AM PDT by Jim Noble (Assez de mensonges et des phrases)
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To: gibsonguy

Frankee picked this fool to carry on his destruction and it is proceeding.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>..
SSPX FOREVER!


14 posted on 08/10/2026 10:04:29 AM PDT by fortes fortuna juvat (RC Traditionalist here, so Puck the Fope.)
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To: ebb tide

This fake pope is just flat out evil.


15 posted on 08/10/2026 10:04:45 AM PDT by HYPOCRACY (There is no gravity. The earth just sucks. )
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To: No name given

This pope is just like his predecessor, a heretic.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
SSPX FOREVER!


16 posted on 08/10/2026 10:05:48 AM PDT by fortes fortuna juvat (RC Traditionalist here, so Puck the Fope.)
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To: niteowl77

Leo X blundered into fracturing his church. Leo XIV is is knowingly giving the keys to Satan.
Appalling.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
SSPX FOREVER!


17 posted on 08/10/2026 10:07:30 AM PDT by fortes fortuna juvat (RC Traditionalist here, so Puck the Fope.)
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To: ebb tide

Chicago “ Pope “ Leo’s next “ inclusive “ move will be to turn the Vatican into a large Mosque, and fly a rainbow flag at the main entrance.

God is watching, and he’s not happy with the Chicago Pope.


18 posted on 08/10/2026 10:14:29 AM PDT by BrexitBen
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To: fortes fortuna juvat

When I think about all of the elderly people I’ve known who, after retiring from a long life of hard work would still get out of bed early every morning and go to mass, it is heartbreaking to realize that the Catholic hierarchy is a politically motivated mess that sees their faith as old and anachronistic.


19 posted on 08/10/2026 10:19:24 AM PDT by neverevergiveup
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To: ebb tide

Prayers up for Holy Mother Church


20 posted on 08/10/2026 10:24:42 AM PDT by Bigg Red ( Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.)
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