McAleese also described a ban on women priests as “codology dressed up as theology”.
Former President of Ireland Mary McAleese has described the Catholic Church as “an empire of misogyny” ahead of a speech at the annual Why Women Matter conference on International Women’s Day.
Speaking to reporters in Rome, according to RTÉ, McAleese said that the Catholic Church is “one of the last great bastions of misogyny”.
“It’s an empire of misogyny,” McAleese added.
On the role of women in the Catholic Church, McAleese said: “There are so few leadership roles currently available to women. Women do not have strong role models in the Church they can look up to,” while she described the Catholic Church’s ban on women priests as “codology dressed up as theology”.
Last month, it emerged that McAleese had been barred from speaking at the Why Women Matter conference by Cardinal Kevin Farrell, the most senior Irish figure in the Vatican.
As a result, the organisers of the conference, Voices of Faith, decided to move the conference to a location outside the Vatican after appeals to the Cardinal to change his mind were unsuccessful.
A live steam of the conference will be available on the Voices of Change website from 1pm on Thursday, 8 March.
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