In an address Saturday to an Italian women’s group, Pope Francis once again expressed a “vivid hope” that women will play a ‘more capillary and incisive’ role in the Catholic church as well as in all the venues in which ‘the most important decisions are adopted.’

“Francis made the comment in an address to the Centro Italiano Femminile, originally founded in 1944 to promote the involvement of women in Italy’s post-World War II reconstruction and inspired by the Christian tradition.

“Though reaffirming the ban on female priests, Francis has voiced a desire for a greater role for women in the church on a number of occasions, including his airborne press conference in July while returning from Brazil and in his apostolic exhortation, Evangelii Gaudium.

“Francis did not offer any new specifics Saturday in terms of what those roles might look like, but the repetition of the point arguably suggests that it’s a papal priority.”

By John L. Allen, Jr., National Catholic Reporter — Click here to read the rest of this article.