Women should not be ordained as deacons, according to a second Vatican commission established by Pope Francis to study the issue.
This clerical role permits the deacon to officiate at funerals, baptisms and marriages – but does not allow the recipient to hear confessions or officiate at Mass. The church currently ordains to the diaconate both men who are on their way to becoming priests and men who remain permanently at this stage of clerical empowerment – to act then in a subsidiary role to that of the priest.
The first study commission set up by Pope Francis in 2016 to study the issue failed to reach a consensus. This second commission, set up in 2020, was presided over by Cardinal Giuseppe Petrocchi and presented its report on Thursday 4th Dec.
The report argues that since there are two irreconcilable theological schools of thought on the issue, prudence rules against changing the status quo. Further study is not, however, ruled out.
The decision was not unexpected but will disappoint women and theologians who see the male-only priesthood and diaconate as inherently unjust and misogynistic – and theologically unjustified.
Pope Leo has already ruled out the ordination of women to the priesthood, so it is thought likely by some commentators that he will now regard the issue of ordaining women to the diaconate as closed for the duration of his papacy.
For a more extensive report in CRUX, click here.
You’ve been duped – exposing Vatican deceptions about the decision on women deacons.
In December 2025, the Vatican announced its stance on women deacons, under the pretense that it was a recent development that they were eager to share with their constituents. Unfortunately, this was a charade – below is a timeline of this deception:
https://www.wijngaardsinstitute.com/petrocchi_commission_women_deacons/
The argument presented by the Dec 2025 announcement – that Jesus’s masculinity is essential to the meaning of a sacrament – is so obviously nonsensical that already one suspected that the process that led to it was as devoid of authenticity and credibility as a Russian show trial. This detailed account of that process simply reinforces that conclusion, revealing such Vatican decisions as predetermined by high-level political attitudes that will ignore or misrepresent genuine historical scholarship on the real situation regarding women’s ministry in the early church. Sexism rules this issue, not scholarship. Were it otherwise the process would have been fully transparent and credible from start to finish.
If the success of synodality depended upon the integrity of Vatican participants it would be over now, everywhere – but Catholic Christians need to be meeting these times to discuss all of the issues that concern them, remembering Jesus’ promise to be with us always. To pray also, obviously – without leaving out a solemn prayer for integrity to reign in the church wherever it it is currently absent.
Hi Sean, I agree with your comments on the Deacon question.
Let me thank you for your article in the Furrow on “ You Cat, Violence and the cross”. You raise some very important issues .
Picking and lifting phrases out of the Bible , without any contextual reference is all too frequent in official church documents.
I suspect that at the root of the human tendency to violence is what I term a “ culture of contempt”.
Contempt towards the” other” and even towards the “self” arises in part from the mysterious “ accuser” who undermines confidence in our giveness. The erosion of the sense of the wonder of our own being, is being facilitated in multi faceted ways in our culture. Some are very subtle and certainly not easily brought to conscious awareness.
Perhaps you and others might promote a revision of You Cat and it might be an Irish version of the famous “Dutch Catechism”.
Anyway, thanks for your always stimulating articles over the years. Fr Paul Taylor
Thanks a lot for taking that trouble, Paul. That there is indeed a dark mystery in our sense of insufficiency, our tendency always to look for reassurance in the positive regard of others – and therefore to be easily ‘misled’- is surely amply illustrated in ongoing events. It is the Achilles heel of liberal democracy. The Genesis story needs to be looked at again, for the light it throws on this daily habit of comparison followed by dissatisfaction – it’s the very air we breathe – and Baptism on its own does not bring it to our attention. You are very ‘encouraging’ – and that’s most of what I need just now!