As synod opens, Vatican says ‘no’ to women deacons

Letter from Rome

On the first day of the final session of the Synod of Bishops on Synodality, a study group responsible for evaluating the female diaconate has said that, while still exploring other forms of women’s’ involvement in the Church, they will not become deacons.

Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernández, prefect of the Vatican’s Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, made the announcement during the synod’s afternoon session October 2, the first official working day of the October 2-27 synod.

On the women’s diaconate, he said, “We would like to share from the outset that, based on the analysis conducted so far – which also takes into account the work done by the two Commissions established by Pope Francis on the female diaconate – the dicastery judges that there is still no room for a positive decision by the Magisterium regarding the access of women to the diaconate, understood as a degree of the Sacrament of Holy Orders”.

“The Holy Father himself recently confirmed this consideration publicly. In any event, the Dicastery judges that the opportunity to continue the work of in-depth study remains open,” he said.

Diaconate

Pope Francis has previously established two different commissions to study the issue of the women’s diaconate, with the first being established in 2016. Both commissions presented their findings, which were ultimately inconclusive, to the Pope.

The topic of the women’s diaconate was among the most hotly debated during last year’s synod gathering, which touched on other sensitive issues such as priestly celibacy, women’s priestly ordination, and a broader inclusion of the LGBTQ+ community.

Women are of great service as women, not as ministers, as ministers in this regard, within the Holy Orders”

However, Pope Francis in May took these questions off of the synod discussion table, instead assigning them to study groups he formed to continue reflection on various points that emerged during the synod discussion.

Francis also appeared to take the question off the table during a conversation with CBS News that aired in May.

When asked by CBS journalist Norah O’Donnell if women will ever have “the opportunity to be a deacon and participate as a clergy member in the Church?”, the pope said, “No.”

“If it is deacons with Holy Orders, no. But women have always had, I would say, the function of deaconesses without being deacons, right? Women are of great service as women, not as ministers, as ministers in this regard, within the Holy Orders.”

Announced by the synod’s organisational team in March, the synod study groups have been assigned the following subjects:

• The relationship between the Eastern Catholic Churches and the Latin Church
• Listening to the Cry of the Poor
• The mission in the digital environment
• The revision of the Ratio Fundamentalis Institutionis Sacerdotalis in a missionary synodal perspective
• Theological and canonical matters regarding specific ministerial forms
• The revision, in a synodal missionary perspective, of the documents touching on the relationship between Bishops, consecrated life, and ecclesial associations
• Some aspects of the person and ministry of the bishop (criteria for selecting candidates to episcopacy, judicial function of the bishops, nature and course of ad limina apostolorum visits) from a missionary synodal perspective
• The role of papal representatives in a missionary synodal perspective
• Theological criteria and synodal methodologies for shared discernment of controversial doctrinal, pastoral, and ethical issues
• The reception of the fruits of the ecumenical journey in ecclesial practices

The groups, comprised of curial officials and experts from around the world, have been tasked with developing a working plan that they were to present to this year’s synod assembly, and with the goal of concluding their studies so as to present the results to the Pope by June 2025.

Entrusted

Study of the women’s diaconate was entrusted to the DDF as part of the working ground on “Some theological and canonical matters regarding specific ministerial forms”.

Membership of that working group has not been announced, but according to images available online, it includes not only Fernández, but also Archbishop John Joseph Kennedy, Secretary for the Disciplinary Section of DDF, Archbishop Philippe Curbelié, undersecretary of the dicastery, and a handful of women. Archbishop Charles Scicluna of Malta, an adjunct secretary of the dicastery, is also a member.

Cardinal Fernández said, it will be possible “to give proper attention to the pressing issue of women’s participation in the life and leadership of the Church”

Fernández said the group has decided to proceed with drafting a document on their study topic, and that the “most interesting” parts of the findings of the two commissions for the women’s diaconate will be included.

In order to properly develop the place of women in the Church and in decision-making processes as well as in leadership positions, he said the document would dwell on a series of different subjects.

These subjects, Cardinal Fernández said, include the nature of sacramental power, the relationship between this sacramental power as deriving from the Eucharist, and other ecclesial ministries “needed for the care and growth of God’s Holy People with a view to mission”.

They will also include the origin of ministries, the charismatic nature of the Church, an exploration of the various ecclesial functions and ministries that do not require the Sacrament of Holy Orders, Holy Orders as service, and problems arising “from an erroneous conception of ecclesial authority”.

Only after conducting this reflection, Cardinal Fernández said, it will be possible “to give proper attention to the pressing issue of women’s participation in the life and leadership of the Church. This includes the question of women’s access to the diaconate.”

Cardinal Fernández said the study conducted by the DDF so far has sought to conduct an in-depth analysis of the lives of women who have had “genuine authority and power in support of the Church’s mission.”

Charisms

The reflection, he said, would be on “charisms or the establishment of roles of ecclesial service” that are not directly connected to the sacraments, but which are rooted in baptism and confirmation.

He pointed to the historic examples such as Matilda of Canossa, Hildegard of Bingen, Bridget of Sweden, Catherine of Siena, Teresa of Ávila, Juana Inés de la Cruz, Elizabeth Ann Seton, Maria Montessori, Armida Barelli, Dorothy Day, and Madeleine Delbrêl.

“Equally, it will be crucial to listen to those women today who hold leading roles within the People of God and to the churches to which they belong,” he said.

In this sense, Fernández said that apart from the question of the women’s diaconate, “the in-depth study of their multifaceted Christian witness can help today imagine new forms of ministry that can create still broader opportunities for a more incisive female presence in the Church.”