Women and the Pope

Matthew of the Shrine of the Holy Whapping has some interesting thoughts on the role of women in the Church. Is Benedict considering something supremely Medieval? The role of (some) women was arguably at it's height during that time. What kind of structural changes, if any, would be necessary to achieve a Medieval state of womanly status? Isn't it really our attitudes towards power and women that would have to be changed?

There were no women priests back then, no women cardinals. One of the differences is, I think, that power, in the Church and in the State, was more diffuse. The apparent decline of women's roles in the Church may be associated with the rise of centralization of power and the nameless bureaucracy associated with popes and kings. Hmmm...

Maybe the greater role of women was due to greater personal access to the princes of the Church and the World.