"The womanist theology does not understand that, in the Church, between man and woman there is a fundamental equality with some functional inequality". This is the opinion of Josep Ignasi Saranyana, director of the high school of Church History of the University of Navarra, who presented his book "Theology of women, feminist theology, womanist theology and ecofeminism in Latin America (1975-2000)".

Professor Saranyana, of the Pontifical committee of Historical Sciences and Visiting Professor of the Universities of Costa Rica, Nacional Autónoma de México and Católica do Rio Grande, in Brazil, studies in this work four theological currents in Latin America that have women as their subject. "For feminist theology, the Christian religious space is patriarchal and androcentric and, in it, women are marginalized and oppressed. It is currently ascribed to liberation theology, but it took about ten years to arouse their interest," she explained. It is a polemical theology that demands greater participation of women in the Church. "It is in this context that the idea of the female priesthood is raised," he said.

A distinct branch of feminist theology has emerged from feminist theology, mujerista theology. "This is a gender theology, which affirms that the roles of women and men are determined fundamentally by cultural factors with little emphasis on sexual differentiation," said Josep Ignasi Saranyana. "For these theologians, not only women, but also men, must be freed from the roles imposed on them by society because of their sex."

Even more radical is ecofeminism. "This current aims at a total inversion of religious notions. It is about returning to ancestral cultures in which the feminine was the origin of everything," said the professor of School of Theology. And he added that "ecofeminism considers that religious language, which attributes masculine adjectives to God and Jesus Christ, is a social construction that must be changed to create a new religious reality with the primacy of the feminine".

Concern of the Popes to study the role of women

In the face of these three currents, Professor Saranyana advocates the theology of women, which he defined as "a theological study of the sources of revelation that seeks to deepen the role of women in the work of salvation and in society". The Popes promote the theology of women. "Paul VI went so far as to create a special commission that worked for three years - he recalled - and the current Pontiff has dedicated three important documents to topic".