In the theologically grounded tradition the priesthood passes through man. The woman has another function in Christianity, reflected in the figure of Mary. It is the figure that embraces society, the figure that contains it, the mother of the community. The woman has the gift of maternity, of tenderness; if all these riches are not integrated, a religious community not only transforms into a chauvinist society, but also one that is austere, hard, and hardly sacred. The fact that a woman cannot exercise the priesthood does not make her less than the male. Moreover, in our understanding, the Virgin Mary is greater than the apostles. According to a monk from the second century, there are three feminine dimensions among Christians: Mary as Mother of the Lord, the Church and the Soul. The feminine presence in the Church has not been emphasize much, because the temptation of chauvinism has not allowed for the place that belongs to the women of the community to be made very visible.

– Jorge Mario Bergoglio (now Pope Francis)-

from On Heaven and Earth:

Pope Francis on Faith, Family, and the Church in the Twenty-First Century,

Image Books, 2013, p. 100-101.)