Pope Francis and members of his international Council of Cardinals have discussed the possibility of allowing local bishops rather than the Vatican decide on whether permanent deacons may be permitted to marry or be ordained as priests.
Greg Burke, director of the Vatican press office, said it was "what the Pope calls a 'healthy decentralisation'."
Briefing journalists on the council's meeting this week, Burke said the cardinals and Pope looked specifically at the possibility of allowing bishops to determine whether a permanent deacon who is widowed can remarry or whether a permanent deacon who is unmarried or widowed can be ordained to the priesthood without having to "wait for a decision to be made in Rome" as is the current rule.
