Vatican commission says women cannot be Catholic deacons

Female deacons have been a contentious topic within the church for the past decade

Twelve deacons prostrate in front of the altar at the Cathedral of Saint Thomas More during their ordination Mass in Arlington (Associated Press/Jessie Wardarski)

A high-level Vatican commission has voted against allowing Catholic women to serve as deacons, a decision that upholds the global Church's long-standing practice of an all-male clergy.

The findings were presented in a report to Pope Leo and released on Thursday.

The commission's vote, which stood at 7-1, concluded that both historical research and theological investigation "excludes the possibility" of women serving as deacons at present.

However, the body did recommend that the issue warrants further study.

Discussions surrounding the potential for women deacons, who are ordained to assist with Church services but are not permitted to celebrate Mass, have been a contentious topic within the 1.4 billion-member Church for the past decade.

Catholic deacons perform various duties, including baptising individuals, witnessing marriages, and presiding over funerals.

In certain regions, they can also lead parishes when a priest is unavailable, though a priest must still conduct the Mass.

Activists from the Women's Ordination Conference release pink smoke to call for full equality for women in the Catholic Church on the first day of the conclave to elect the 267th pope, in Rome (AP)

Historically, the role was often seen as a preliminary step towards the priesthood. Following a series of Church reforms in the 1960s, it was re-established as a permanent position open to married Catholic men.

Despite this, some women have expressed a profound belief that they are called by God to undertake this role of service within the Church.

The panel, led by a cardinal and a priest from the Vatican's top doctrinal office, included men and women church scholars. They said in the report that their assessment against women deacons was strong, but "does not as of today allow a definitive judgment to be formulated".

The late Pope Francis opened the conversation, after a request in 2016 from the Rome-based umbrella group representing the world's Catholic sisters and nuns.

Francis instituted two commissions to study the matter, which deliberated in secrecy. Thursday's report is the first time that the results of the discussions have been made public.

One of the members of Francis' first commission, who had argued for women deacons, criticised the new report.

Phyllis Zagano, a scholar at Hofstra University in New York, said the text "does its best to present the topic in a negative light, selectively choosing comments from previous reports without providing complete context".

Catholic deacons can baptise people, witness marriages and preside at funerals, among other duties (Associated Press)

The new report comes in a letter sent to Pope Leo by Italian Cardinal Giuseppe Petrocchi, who led the second commission created by Francis. The letter is dated 18 September but was released by the Vatican on Thursday.

The second commission voted in a July 2022 meeting against the possibility of women serving as deacons, it said.

The report also said the commission voted 9-1 in a meeting this February that the Church should "broaden women's access" to ministry opportunities, without giving specifics.

"It now falls to the discernment of pastors to evaluate which further ministries may be introduced for the concrete needs of the Church of our time," said the report.

Leo, a relative unknown on the global stage before his election in May, is not known to have commented on the issue of women deacons.

Pope John Paul II reaffirmed the ban on women serving as priests in 1994, but did not specifically address the issue of women deacons.

Advocates point to evidence that women served as deacons in the early centuries of the Church. One woman, Phoebe, is mentioned as a deacon in one of the letters of the apostle St. Paul.