A Vatican study commission has voted for the second time to determine that women should not be ordained as deacons in the Catholic Church.
Announced in a report on Thursday, the high-level commission voted 7-1, saying historical research and theological investigation “excludes the possibility” of women deacons at this time. It did, however, leave the door open for further study into the issue and proposed the creation of new lay ministries for women outside the ordained diaconate.
The role of deacon in the Catholic faith is to perform many of the same functions as priests, except for celebrating mass. Deacons preside at weddings, baptisms and funerals, as well as preach.
While married men are allowed to be ordained as deacons, women aren’t allowed.
However, historians have said women served as deacons in the early Christian church. To study this and respond to growing calls for women to be given greater roles in the 21st century church, Pope Francis established a commission in 2016, which ultimately failed to reach a consensus.
The issue was brought up again in 2019 when the Amazon was experiencing a shortage of priests in the region and called on Francis to look into allowing women to become deacons. Francis agreed and this latest commission appears to be a response to this call.
Thursday’s report from the second commission determining that women aren’t yet allowed to become deacons is the first time that the results of the discussions have been made public.
Advocates for allowing women to serve in the role argue that it would allow women greater say in the ministry and church governance, alongside filling priest shortages, as deacons are also seen as a step before becoming a priest.
Opponents argue that allowing women to be deacons could lead to women wanting to become priests, a role that the Catholic Church reserves for men, citing that Christ chose 12 men as his apostles.
One of the members of Francis’ first commission, Phyllis Zagano, a scholar at Hofstra University in New York, criticised the second commission’s report, saying the text, “does its best to present the topic in a negative light, selectively choosing comments from previous reports without providing complete context”.
“The long report does not present evidence or a theological argument, only the opinion that more study is needed. In short, they cannot say ‘no,’ they simply do not want to say ‘yes,’” she said in a statement.