A month-long Vatican summit has ended with a call for women to take on more leadership roles in the Catholic Church, but not with a call for women to be ordained as priests, as some progressives had at the start of the process hoped.

The synod marked the end of a four-year consultation aimed at gauging the views of every church-going Catholic worldwide, and Pope Francis opened what is usually a bishops’ conference to some laypeople, including nearly 60 women among the 368 voting delegates.

All synod members voted on each of the 151 proposals.

Although all proposals passed with the required two-thirds majority, the most ‘no’ votes were given to the proposal to allow women to take on more leadership roles in the Church, which has an all-male clergy.

Advocates for an expanded role for women in the Church had hoped the synod could call women to serve as deacons. The synod did not proceed with this step, but the final document stated: “There is no reason or barrier that should prevent women from taking on leadership roles in the Church.”

Currently, the Catholic Church only allows men to become deacons; ordained ministers who can perform baptisms, weddings and funerals, but not Mass, unlike priests.

While reform groups had also hoped for concrete ways to better welcome homosexuals into the Church, the final document made no mention of the LGBT+ community, except for a passing reference to those who feel “excluded or judged” because of their “marital status , identity and identity’. or sexuality”.

The Rev. James Martin, a prominent American Jesuit who serves the LGBT community and was a member of the synod, said it was “no surprise” that the new text did not specifically mention the group.

Progressives may be disappointed, but some conservatives were angry about the entire summit from the start.

This has been a huge exercise and the Pope, 87, has called the final text a “gift” to the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics, but many traditionalists have been against opening up this consultation process – a personal project of his questions for lay people and questioned the idea of ​​soliciting the views of non-clergy.

But it fits with Pope Francis’ view that it is Catholics who must play a greater role in shaping the Church’s future, not just cardinals and bishops — just one of many reasons why traditionalists are giving him a hard time made.

For him and supporters of the process, the mere fact that there was outreach and that people with opposing views came together for discussion is its success, with the hope that this can be built on in the future.

“We live in a highly fragmented world of increasing war and violence, and this polarization is affecting the life of the church,” said Oxford theologian Father Timothy Radcliffe, who has served as the summit’s chief spiritual adviser.

“I have made friends here with people from all over the world. For example, I get to know African bishops who often have very different views than I do about how we should welcome LGBT people, for example, but you build friendships that take you beyond these disagreements to a new depth of your own faith,” said Father Timothy, who will be appointed cardinal in December.

But it is unclear how these discussions will be carried out in practical terms beyond the meeting.

And with so much compromise and avoidance of controversy, observers see little boldness in the proposals. So an effort intended to bring people together has left many feeling as on the fringes of the Catholic Church as before.