Pope Francis has announced the establishment of a new Commission for the Study of the Diaconate of Women after raising the question earlier this year.
In May, while addressing 900 leaders of female religious congregations, the Pope expressed an intention to “establish an official commission that could study the question” of the diaconate of women, “especially with regard to the first ages of the Church”.
During the question and answer session at the Plenary Assembly of Superiors General in Rome, the sisters told Francis that women had served as deacons in the early Church and asked: "Why not construct an official commission that might study the question?". “I am in agreement,” Francis replied, "I will look to do something".
A key question for the commission to study is the role of female deacons - known as deaconesses - in early Christianity. In 2002 a Vatican commission ruled that deaconesses were not the same as deacons but left it up up to the Church to decide to bring back this female ministry.
While the diaconate is distinct from the priesthood, deacons are technically members of the clergy and conservatives are likely to oppose the move on the grounds that it will open the way for women priests.
The Vatican said in a statement today that the Pope had decided to create the group “after intense prayer and mature reflection”.
Francis has appointed Archbishop Luis Francisco Ladaria Ferrer SJ, Secretary of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, as the commission’s president. Six men and women from academic institutions around the world will join the commission, including professor and author Dr Phyllis Zagano.
“I am honored that the Holy Father has included me among the scholars who will study anew the question of restoring women to the diaconate in the Catholic Churches,” said Dr Zagano. “The most recent study document on the question of restoring women to the diaconate states that the decision is up to the ‘ministry of discernment that the Lord has left his Church’. My hope is that the results of the study will be a decision that will enable to Church to speak more forcefully to the world about the dignity and place of women.”
The members of the new commission include:
- Sr Nuria Calduch-Benages, MHSFN, member of the Pontifical Biblical Commission
- Professor Francesca Cocchini, of the «La Sapienza» University, and of the Patristic Institute “Augustinianum,” Rome
- Msgr Piero Coda, President of the University Institute «Sophia», Loppiano, and member of the International Theological Commission
- Fr Robert Dodaro, O.S.A., President of the Patristic Institute “Augustinianum,” Rome and professor of patrology
- Fr Santiago Madrigal Terrazas, SJ, professor of ecclesiology at the Pontifical University “Comillas,” Madrid
- Sr Mary Melone, S.F.A., Rector of the Pontifical University “Anonianum,” Rome
- Fr Karl-Heinz Menke, professor emeritus of dogmatic theology at the University of Bonn and member of the International Theological Commission
- Fr Aimable Musoni, SDB, professor of ecclesiology at the Pontifical Salesian University, Rome
- Fr Bernard Pottier, SJ, professor at the “Institut d'Etudes Théologiques,” Brussels, and member of the International Theological Commission
- Professor Marianne Schlosser, professor of spiritual theology at the University of Vienana, and member of the International Theological Commission
- Professor Michelina Tenace, professor of fundamental theology at the Pontifical Gregorian University, Rome
- Professor Phyllis Zagano, professor at Hofstra University, Hempstead, New York
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