Pope Francis kicked off the next phase of a closely watched Vatican reform synod on Wednesday by urging delegates to focus on unity and avoid pushing personal agendas so “each person feels welcomed,” but advocates for women’s ordination in the Catholic Church say they feel anything but welcomed.

Female Catholic priest Angela Meyer and Kate McElwee have traveled to Rome expressly to demand that the synod directly confront the issue of women in the clergy. They said the issue has been continually silenced.

The momentous synod, launched by Pope Francis in 2021, is a two-part process that the Argentine-born pontiff says is aimed at making the church more inclusive and responsive to the needs of its members. The National Catholic Reporter says millions of Catholics from around the globe participated in consultations, with last year’s first session diving into heated discussions on issues such as clergy abuse, the role of women and LGBTQ rights.

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Despite the buildup, allowing women to be ordained as priests remains largely off the table.

Instead, Pope Francis has directed the synod to focus on restructuring Church governance and fostering greater participation among Catholics while allowing for “legitimate diversity” among local churches, The Associated Press reported. Whether that will be enough to satisfy the pope’s critics on the left and the right is another question.

In his homily at the opening Mass in St. Peter’s Square, the pope called for dialogue over division. “Let us be careful not to see our contributions as points to defend at all costs or agendas to be imposed,” he said. He warned that such behavior would lead to “dialogues among the deaf,” according to the National Catholic Reporter.

Ms. McElwee, executive director of the Women’s Ordination Conference, is leading an international delegation of advocates for an expanded role for women in the church.

“We are here with an international delegation of advocates who are calling the synod to take seriously the voices of women around the world who are calling for greater participation in the life of the church,” Ms. McElwee said in an interview from Rome.

Her group held a vigil at the Basilica of St. Praxedes on the eve of the synod’s opening. Women from around the world shared their testimonies, including stories of their vocations to the priesthood.

“We do have a deep and sincere prayer for the synod to be an open place of discernment and conversation, where no agenda is fixed and nothing is off the table,” Ms. McElwee said.

The agenda is fixed this time. Top church officials insist that the priesthood is reserved for men. They note Jesus’ decision to appoint male apostles as the foundation for this teaching.

Pope Francis, despite clashing with conservative factions within the church throughout his papacy, has been firm in his rejection of the addition of female priests, even as he entertains a larger role for women elsewhere within the church. Indeed, after recently being challenged by female students in Belgium, he said efforts to promote a female diaconate is an attempt to “masculinize women.”

As recently as this week, he reaffirmed that the priesthood is reserved for men. Despite this, the synod assembly includes nearly 400 delegates, 85 of whom are women — and some of whom have the right to vote.

On Wednesday, Ms. McElwee’s group staged a “colorful and bold” protest near Castel Sant’Angelo, carrying placards modeled after Campbell’s Soup cans that spelled out “Ordain Women.” Their message, Ms. McElwee said, was direct: “Don’t kick the can down the road.”

The Roman Catholic Women Priests movement, which Angela Meyer represents, is also advocating for the ordination of women.

Ms. Meyer said the movement began more than 20 years ago when Catholic male bishops on the Danube River ordained seven women. The act defied church norms but laid the groundwork for their movement. “We’re described as ‘illicit’ priests,” Ms. Meyer said.

Speaking with The Washington Times from Rome, Ms. Meyer, who was ordained in 2021, explained that the group’s mission is to promote an inclusive priesthood, focusing on women’s vocations. “Women’s ordination is something that consistently gets tabled, even in what is supposed to be a ‘listening’ and ‘inclusive’ process,” she said.

Not many in the clerical hierarchy support reforming women’s roles. Cardinal Gerhard Mueller, the former head of the Vatican’s doctrine office, has been an outspoken critic of the synod process and Pope Francis’ broader direction for the pontificate.

In an essay published on the German Catholic site kath.net this week, Cardinal Mueller took issue with Pope Francis’ penitential liturgy, during which the pope sought forgiveness for the church’s past wrongdoings.

Cardinal Mueller criticized what he described as “newly invented sins,” particularly those related to the synod. He warned that some in the church are “using doctrine as stones to be hurled” and argued that the synod’s focus reflected “a checklist of woke and gender ideology, somewhat laboriously disguised as Christianity.”

Ms. McElwee and Ms. Meye said the discussion isn’t a checklist.

“We hope that our witness today called attention to the urgency of the issue, and I hope our voices will be heard,” Ms. McElwee said.

Ms. Meyer echoed these concerns. “We’re here to bring a voice to the margins of the church,” she said.

As discussions unfold over the next three weeks, the bar on women’s ordination remains unlikely to change. Still, Ms. Meyer, Ms. McElwee and their fellow advocates remain hopeful that their presence in Rome will help lay the foundation for future changes in doctrine.