We publish an extract of an interview with Maria Voce by Lucetta Scaraffia. A complete translation will be available soon. “We were quite keen on having you for the first interview that will appear in the Roman Observer’s new section on women. You are the only woman at the head of a movement of such great importance. Does this unique position of yours ever weigh you down, interacting with ecclesiastical hierarchy?  Not only does it not weigh me down, but it is a peculiarity which is more and more recognized by the Pope, cardinals and bishops, in accordance with what it signifies and was originally expressed by John Paul II: to be the guarantee and the sign of the Marian profile that tells of the primacy of supernatural love, of holiness, and is co-essential to the Apostolic-Petrine profile. These dimensions work together, Wojtyla said, in “making present the Mystery of Christ and his saving action in the world.” But for the first twenty years of our history it wasn’t like this: it was a total novelty! There was a long and tedious process behind it, involving much suffering (. . .). In recent years the Church has had to overcome great difficulties. Do you believe that a different role and a different presence of women might have facilitated the overcoming of these difficulties? It’s hard to say. I would say that we should look at today when a deep crisis is passing through not only the Church, but all humanity. If the root of the problem is a crisis of the faith, as the Pope continues to insist, then woman, wherever she may be living, has the specific vocation to be the  God bearer, the bearer of supernatural love, which is the greatest value and the most useful one for renewing both the Church and society. By Lucetta Scaraffia Editorial – Roman Observer See insert in Osservatore Romano