New call for women deacons

Dominican theologian Fr Timothy Radcliffe has said he is hopeful that women will be soon ordained deacons in the Church so that they can preach and have a public voice, writes Sarah Mac Donald.

The former Master of the Order of Preachers made his comment in the course of a new documentary aired by RTE Television this week on Pope Francis.

Fr Radcliffe said that though he was personally hopeful about the introduction of women deacons he felt that Pope Francis was “looking for something more radical than that”. He described the biggest challenge facing Francis as giving a voice and authority to women.

Another contributor to the programme, Pope Francis – The Sinner, former Irish President Mary McAleese, described the Church’s attitude to women as “a blindside” which leaves so many “good and decent men like Francis still carrying a residual element of misogyny that closes them off to the danger of not dealing with this issue”.

Speaking separately to The Tablet, Ms McAleese said the Pope must invest the same level of effort into developing the new theology of women as has been invested in reforming the Curia and Vatican bank which she described as “managerial matters”.