Pink smoke rises in front of the dome of Saint Peter during a protest of the activists at The Women's Ordination Conference, which demand full equality for women in the Catholic Church, on the first day of the conclave to choose the 267th Pope. Rome, May 7, 2025. Photo: Bernat Armangue / AP / Profimedia
Cardinals voters have not yet voted in the papal conclave, but have already been out in the smoke race, reports France24.
The members of an organization of Catholic women (The Women's Ordination Conference) lit pink smoke on a hill behind the Vatican on Wednesday, in protest against gender inequality within the Catholic Church, a few hours before the Sistine chapel would gather the cardinals to choose the next pope.
Group Camagning for the Ordination of Women Priests Let off Pink Smoke on a Hill Over St Peter's Square – to Symbolise Women's Exclusion from Conclave
Theyve a List of Potential Papable Female – Including Former Irish President Mary McAleese pic.twitter.com/zghlyegpis
– Barry Lenihan (@barrylenihan) May 7, 2025
“While the world is waiting for white or black smoke, our pink smoke is a signal that women should be included in all aspects of the Church's life,” said Kate Mcelwee, executive director of the conference for women's ordination.
“The place of a woman is in the conclave,” she added.
🎥 watch | Activists Resease Pink Smoke in Vatican's Male-Only Conclave Over Protest pic.twitter.com/xmx9vjsb7l
– clr.cut (@clr_cut) May 7, 2025
The women said they were arrested in the past when they brought the protests closer to St. Peter's Square, so they organized the pink smoke event on Ganicolo Hill behind the Vatican, from where the dome of Saint Peter was seen.
“The exclusion of women from the conclave and the Ministry of Hirotonisiei is a sin and a scandal,” said Mcelwee, in a previously transmitted statement. “A group of ordained men who meet behind closed doors to make an important decision about the future of the church is a classic example of” old boys club “,” she said.
The protesters had a list of potential candidates for the Pope, among which was the former Irish president Mary McAleese.
In an interview with France 24, McAalese warned that the church will be “in an even more serious situation” if the cardinals will choose a conservative pontiff, which will make the shy progress made under Pope Francis.
“They have postponed so many problems (…), especially that of women and gender equality,” said the former Irish president, a canon law doctor, warning that, without the efforts of the deceased Pontiff, the church would have been “overwhelmed by a tsunami of dissatisfaction.”
She added: “We need a brave, really brave man who leads the Church for egalitarianism, to which many of us believe that Christ has promised and which it represents, but which the Church does not respect.”
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