Editor’s Note: Celia Wexler is a journalist and the author of “Catholic Women Confront Their Church: Stories of Hurt and Hope.” She writes frequently on Catholicism, feminism and politics. That means in the United States, the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, that bastion of conservatism, will do the choosing. Will Zagano, who has written extensively about the role of women deacons in the early church, be given a vote? How about British theologian Tina Beattie, who has worked tirelessly to amplify women’s voices in the church? In 2014, Beattie founded Catholic Women Speak, an international group of women focused on one goal: increasing women’s participation in the life and governance of the church.

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