✣ Pope to ask CDF about women deacons
What happened? Pope Francis has said that the historical role of deaconesses needs to be studied, and that he will ask the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) whether such research has been carried out. At a meeting with heads of women’s religious orders from around the world, the Pope was asked if he would create an official commission to study whether women could become deacons. He said that such a commission could be useful. What the media said The Guardian’s Andrew Brown predicted a heated debate. In the Church of England, he observed, “the ordination of women as deacons paved the way for their ordination as priests”. The exclusively male priesthood is based on “a belief that the whole of creation is gendered, so that being male or female has a cosmic, metaphysical significance. And that imaginative picture in turn forms the background to all Catholic teaching about sexuality.” At the Daily Beast, Barbie Latza Nadeau announced: “Pope Francis didn’t just rock the boat; he may have created a tidal wave.” She saw the idea as a challenge to tradition, saying: “Surely not everyone will be pleased at the idea of women nudging one step closer to the all-male clergy club that rules the Catholic Church.” What the blogosphere said On his blog, Joseph Shaw pointed out that in the early Church female deacons had “a non-sacramental ministry with distinct functions from that of ordained deacons”. The role could theoretically be revived, but this would send an unhelpful message that the laity should be more clerical. “As Vatican II taught with great emphasis, our work for the Church is principally in the world, not in the liturgy or the parish office,” he wrote. At his Deacon’s Bench blog, Greg Kandra pointed out that Benedict XVI had altered canon law in 2009. Benedict’s change made a distinction between priests and bishops – who act in the person of Christ – and deacons, whose role is less specifically symbolic of Christ. Benedict “may have cracked open the door to women deacons”, Kandra argued.
