Pope Francis Says Panel Will Study Whether Women May Serve as Deacons

YEREVAN, MAY 13, ARMENPRESS. Pope Francissaid he would set up a commission to study whether women could serve as deacons in the Roman Catholic Church, a move hailed by women who have campaigned for years for a more prominent role in the church, reports New York Times.

His remarks reveal an openness to re-examining the church’s long-held insistence on an all-male clergy. Yet the idea will face stiff resistance from those who believe that it is the first step toward ordaining female priests, something that recent popes have ruled out, citing church doctrine.

Thepope’s commentswere made during an assembly of leaders of women’s religious orders and were consistent with his style: a seemingly off-the-cuff remark that opened a broad horizon of possibilities.

It came during a question-and-answer session in which he assured the nearly 900 sisters in the room that he wanted to “increase the number of women in decision-making positions in the church.”

One woman asked about the possibility of an official commission to study the issue. His response was, in essence, “Why not?”

“Constituting an official commission that might study the question?” Francis mused,according toThe National Catholic Reporter. “I believe yes. It would do good for the church to clarify this point. I am in agreement.”

“I accept,” the pope said later. “It seems useful to me to have a commission that would clarify this well.”

The comments may prove to be more of a change in tone than a change in church practice, similar to his remark “Who am I to judge?” made in response to a question about gays during a midflight news conference in 2013.

Deacons are ordained ministers in the Catholic Church, and in many parishes they handle many of the same tasks that priests do. They are permitted to preach at Mass, perform baptisms, witness marriages and conduct funeral services. Deacons currently must be men over the age of 35, and they may be married (though if a deacon’s wife dies, he is expected to remain celibate).

Creating a Vaticancommission is no guarantee of change. Such commissions can take years to reach conclusions and are only advisory. Pope Paul VI rejected the majority report of a Vatican commission in 1966 that, after three years of study, essentially recommended that the church lift its ban on artificial birth control.

It is far from clear that Francis favors female deacons or that a commission he appointed would even recommend this change.

Some Catholic women cite research showing that women served as deacons in the church’s early history. But the pope asked some skeptical questions at the assembly about whether the responsibilities of deaconesses in the early church were more circumscribed than those of male deacons.