The Commission established by Pope Francis to investigate the possibility of female deacons has reached its conclusions.
In a report made public today at the request of Pope Leo XIV, it stated:
“The status quaestionis of historical research and theological investigation, as well as their mutual implications, rules out the possibility of moving in the direction of admitting women to the diaconate understood as a degree of the sacrament of Holy Orders. In light of Sacred Scripture, Tradition, and the Church’s Magisterium, this assessment is strongly maintained, although it does not at present allow for a definitive judgment to be formulated, as is the case with priestly ordination.”
The Commission had been headed by Cardinal Giuseppe Petrocchi.
Arguments made for change argued that our common dignity in the image of Christ was to be considered.
Arguments against a change were summarised as follows:
“The masculinity of Christ, and therefore the masculinity of those who receive Holy Orders, is not accidental but is an integral part of sacramental identity, preserving the divine order of salvation in Christ. To alter this reality would not be a simple adjustment of ministry but a rupture of the nuptial meaning of salvation.”
Some have opined that there is a possibility of a non ordained diaconate, with the judgement on that ruled not ‘definitive’.
The Cardinal concluded the theological problem of admitting women to the ordained diaconate, by stating:
‘If the admission of women to the first degree of Holy Orders were approved, exclusion from the others would become inexplicable’.