Pope grants women voting rights at bishops' meeting.

Pope Francis has allowed women to vote at an upcoming meeting of bishops, marking an unprecedented change in the Catholic Church. The Synod of Bishops, a Vatican body that gathers the world’s bishops together for periodic meetings, will now include five religious sisters and 70 non-bishop members, half of whom will be women. The move reflects the Pope's vision for the lay faithful taking on a greater role in church affairs that have long been left to clerics, bishops and cardinals.