Women will be allowed to vote for the first time at a meeting of bishops getting under way in Rome on Wednesday, as the Vatican seeks to address some of the church’s thorniest issues in an agenda that has rattled many conservatives. In an unprecedented move, Pope Francis approved changes to the norms governing the Synod of Bishops in April, paving the way for women to hold 54 of the 365 votes as the church charts out its path for the future. “For women, this is an extraordinary step forward,” María Lía Zervino, the director of the World Women’s Observatory, told Associated Press. “Not only because of these events in October in Rome, but because the church has found a different way of being church.” The three-week, closed-door synod will see hundreds of delegates delve into some of the hot-button issues facing the church, from the role of women to priestly celibacy and the blessing of gay couples. The meetings will end with a vote on specific proposals that are then put to the pope for his consideration in the coming years. Rather than focus on a single topic as is usual, this synod’s agenda will address the broad question of how the Catholic church can be more inclusive. The change is reflected in the voting structure, with lay people also being allowed to vote for the first time. Emphasis has also been put into incorporating the views of rank-and-file Catholics around the world into the synod, with an unprecedented two years spent canvassing the faithfulbefore the summit, said Kathleen Gibbons Schuck of Women’s Ordination Worldwide. “I do believe that this synod will be different than any prior synod,” said Gibbons Schuck, whose group has long pushed for women’s equality and ordination in the Catholic church. “I do believe that it signals an openness to shift the model, from one that was very organisationally hierarchical to one that is a little more collaborative, generative.” Catholic women’s groups have seized on the opening, organising events that range from prayer vigils to marches outside the synod. A consortium of 45 pro-reform organisations have also launched an alternative synod, featuring keynote speakers such as former Irish president Mary McAleese and the lawyer Cherie Blair, in an attempt to tackle what they describe as the second-class status of women in the church. While women are vital to much of the church’s work, from teaching in Catholic schools to staffing Catholic hospitals, the church continues to bar them from becoming priests or accessing the highest ranks of power. Pope Francis has taken fledgling steps to address this imbalance, appointing several women to high-ranking Vatican positions. In recent weeks, a handful of progressives in the church have voiced hopes that the synod could be instrumental in laying the groundwork for women to eventually become priests. However the agenda for the synod, which calls for concrete steps to promote women to decision-making roles and the “radical inclusion” of LGBTQ+ Catholics and others who have been marginalised by the church, has also rattled conservative factions. This week, five conservative cardinals from around the world submitted five questions to Pope Francis, expressing concerns that the synod was sowing confusion when it comes to Catholic doctrine on matters such as female ordination and church authority. The decision to allow women to vote at the synod was also targeted by a US-based conservative Catholic women’s group. “We wish to be represented only by bishops,” Restore Tradition said in a statement. More than 1,000 people have added their signature to the statement, which warns that some of the female participants appointed by Pope Francis had “advocated heretical doctrines and espouse views contrary to the Catholic faith”. Given this resistance and the relatively small number of votes offered to women at the synod, Gibbons Schuck was not expecting the synod to set off any kind of monumental shift in the church. “There’s an enormous history that we’re looking to move to a different place,” she said. “Do I really think there’s going to be substantial change that comes out of this? Even though I’m typically an optimist, I don’t,” she added. “It’s an incremental change. And I see signs of hope in that change.”