Pope Francis to examine role of women deacons

Pope Francis has set up a panel to study whether women could serve as deacons, a role now reserved to men.

The Vatican said Francis “after intense prayer and mature reflection” decided to set up the commission, with 12 members — six men and six women — including priests, nuns and laywomen.

It noted he had told superiors of nuns’ orders in May he intended to “set up an official commission to study the question” of the diaconate for women “above all regarding the early times of the Church”.

Some historians say there were female deacons in the early Church. Married men who serve as deacons can preach and preside at weddings, baptisms, and funerals.

However, only priests can celebrate Mass.

There has been absolutely no sign from the Vatican that any change on deacons would impact on its strict ban against women being ordained as priests.

Heading the commission is a top official, archbishop Luis Francisco Ladaria Ferrer, a Jesuit who is the No 2 official the Congregation of the Faith, the Vatican office entrusted with ensuring doctrinal orthodoxy. Putting the commission under his watch signals the Vatican is intent that whatever the panel concludes will be scrutinised for conformity to church doctrine.

In a possible insight to the Pope’s thinking, Francis has noted that the deaconesses of the early Church weren’t ordained, as the male deacons of today are.

A US-based organisation dedicated to achieving the ordination of women as priests cautiously hailed the development.

The Women’s Ordination Conference “welcomes and is encouraged by Pope Francis’ gender-balanced and lay-inclusive appointments to study women deacons in the early Church,” a statement said.

The group called the commission “an important step for the Vatican in recognising its own history of honouring women’s leadership”.

It also expressed hope that its conclusions will lead to “a new reality for women in our Church: one that models equality and inclusion”.