relator

If it intervenes, it takes over management of the lawsuit though the relator remains a party; the latter can receive 15% to 25% of any recovery.

The government had declined to intervene in the lawsuit but praised the relator for having “diligently pursued this matter on behalf of the United States” over a decade.

The plaintiff, called a relator, sends the lawsuit and a statement to federal authorities, who can choose to intervene.

“The church will be more complete, and it will be a joy to have her represented in her entirety in Rome,” Cardinal Mario Grech, secretary general of the Secretariat for the Synod, and Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich, the Synod’s relator general, said in the Vatican’s announcement.

Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich, the general relator for the event, called the inclusion of women and lay members in the voting pool “not a revolution but an important change.”