The Vatican could soon make significant changes to the role of women in the Catholic Church and to its approach to divorcées, Pope Francis said in a newspaper interview.

In an interview granted to two newspapers, Corriere della Sera in Italy and La Nacion in Argentina, the pope said that women could have greater decision-making power in the church’s hierarchy.

Some Vatican experts have raised the possibility of the pope appointing women to senior positions in the Vatican bureaucracy, perhaps as the head of one of its powerful departments.

But the pope suggested even bigger changes could be in store, with a senior cardinal now consulting female experts in considering possible options.

“Women must have a greater presence in the decision-making areas of the church,” he said. “But I would call this a ‘functional’ promotion. That won’t take us very far.”

Some church leaders advocate making women deacons, ordained ministers who can assist at Mass or perform baptisms, although the pope made no reference to such a possibility.

Read more:  The Wall Street Journal.