Theological liberalism is on its deathbed. It refuses to go quietly. One of its many last requests is that the Catholic Church consider women deacons. A commission has been set up to explore the possibilities. I can predict the outcome.
There will be no deaconesses because there can be no deaconesses because it is not a thing in the Catholic faith. The commission has an orthodox bent to its membership: it is likely to repeat the 2003 International Theological Commission’s conclusion that deaconesses, as liberals define them, did not exist in the early Church. If anyone regards this as opening a door to female ordination then they will be disappointed, for it runs counter to Catholic theology.
