ROME (AP) — A second Vatican study commission has decided that women should not be ordained deacons, another setback for Catholic women who had hoped to one day officiate at weddings, baptisms and funerals.
The Vatican took the unusual step of releasing a comprehensive report of the commission’s findings on Thursday, including members’ votes on specific theological questions. The report leaves open the possibility of further research but recommends the creation of new secular ministries for women outside of ordained deacons.
Deacons are ordained ministers who perform many of the same duties as priests, officiating at weddings, baptisms and funerals. They could preach but not celebrate Mass.
For male seminarians, the diaconate is the transitional ministry into which they are ordained as priests. Married men may also be ordained as permanent deacons. Women could not, although historians say women served as deacons in the early Christian church.
In 2016, Pope Francis ordered the establishment of the first study commission on the issue at the request of the International Federation of Presbyterians, the umbrella organization for women’s religious communities around the world. After that commission apparently failed to reach consensus, Francis established a second study commission in 2020, named after its chairman, Giuseppe Petrocchi, and released its report on Thursday.
Petrocchi concluded that there were currently two irreconcilable schools of theological thought on the issue, requiring a cautious approach from the Vatican. One school of thought allows female deacons, another does not.
In light of the current impasse, the current state of research “rules out the possibility of allowing women into the diaconate, understood as a degree of the sacrament of ordination,” the report said. But it left open the possibility of further research, saying the current status of the investigation did not allow “a final judgment to be made.”
Some Catholic women hope for ministerial recognition
Catholic women carry out much of the Church’s work in schools and hospitals, often responsible for passing on the faith to the next generation. But they have long complained of second-class status in an institution whose clergy is reserved for men. They are demanding a greater role in decision-making management positions and ministerial positions.
Advocates for expanding the diaconate to include women say doing so would give women a greater role in the church’s ministry and governance while also allowing women to perform some priestly functions and help address the impact of a shortage of Catholic priests in parts of the world.
Opponents say ordaining women as deacons would mark the beginning of a slippery slope toward ordaining women to the priesthood. The Catholic Church reserves the priesthood for men, saying Christ chose only men to be his twelve apostles.
Francis has been willing to allow debate on the issue without making any final decisions. Women diaconate bishops were discussed at the Amazon Synod in 2019, and Francis took it up again at the larger, years-long Reform Synod, which in 2024 called for an open mind on the issue.
But earlier this year, a special study group on deaconesses within the framework of the Synod handed over its research to the Petrocchi Commission, essentially ending its work. Petrocchi noted that the issue was relevant to only a handful of countries and that only 22 submissions were received, saying this was hardly representative of the global church.
Leo seemed noncommittal on the question
Pope Leo XIV ordered the publication of Petrocchi’s comprehensive report, which may indicate that for him the issue was now closed.
Former Cardinal Robert Prevost has previously said women cannot be ordained priests and seemed noncommittal on whether women can serve as deacons.
At a 2023 news conference, Prevost acknowledged that Francis had established two study commissions, but he warned that allowing women to become priests “does not necessarily solve problems and may create new ones.”
Phyllis Zagano, a researcher at Hofstra University in New York and a member of the 2016 committee, complained that the document released Thursday “does its best to present the topic in a negative light,” arguing that “because women are prohibited from serving as priests, they may not be ordained as deacons.”
“This lengthy report makes no evidence or theological argument, just the opinion that more research is needed. In short, they can’t say ‘no’, they just don’t want to say ‘yes,'” she said in a statement.
___
AP religion coverage is supported through the AP’s partnership with The Conversation US and grants from the Lilly Endowment Inc. The Associated Press is solely responsible for this content.
