Mags GarganWomen have served on the panel since 2004
Pope Francis, who has said the Catholic Church has "not yet come up with a profound theology of womanhood", named five women, a record number, to the International Theological Commission.
The Vatican has released the names of 30 theologians who will serve a five-year term on the commission. Women have served on the panel since 2004, but, until now, there have never been more than two.
The five women appointees include US Mercy Sister Prudence Allen, former chair of the philosophy department at St John Vianney Theological Seminary in Denver; Australian Tracey Rowland, dean of the John Paul II Institute for Marriage and Family in Melbourne; and Moira Mary McQueen, a Canadian-British citizen who serves as director of the Canadian Catholic Bioethics Institute at the University of St Michaelís College in the University of Toronto.