In May 2016, the International Union of Superiors General (UISG), the leadership group of heads of women’s religious institutes, asked Pope Francis about women deacons. Why, they asked, if women today perform diaconal work, can they not be ordained as deacons as in the early Church?

Within months, Francis formed a 12-member commission to study the question, which met four times and delivered its findings in the summer of 2018. In May 2019, the Pope gave the UISG leadership what he called “the little [the commissioners] agreed upon”, saying they could do with it what they wished. He said he had other commission papers, which they could request. Months later, the UISG president told the media the organisation had received an historical study.

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