VATICAN CITY — There may have been no women allowed inside the College of Cardinals as they voted to elect Cardinal Robert Prevost as pope, but there were plenty of female worshippers outside waiting for the result.
Among the regular pilgrims, tourists and assorted onlookers were groups of nuns. There are around 600,000 Catholic nuns around the world, and they dedicate their lives to a variety of religious services, like charitable work, living in seclusion in monasteries and focusing on prayer.
Distinctive by their habits — with tunics and gowns of different colors — they are often clutching cellphones and playing cards alongside their rosaries beads, and are visual fixtures in and around St. Peter’s Square.
The issue of women within the church is a controversial one.
The late Pope Francis broke ground by appointing more women to top positions within the Vatican. But he disappointed campaigners and equality supporters by putting off the ordination of women to the clergy.
With increasing pressure to allow women to become priests, some observers believe the issue of female ordination will soon become one of the biggest facing the Catholic Church today.
