Rome Raises the Issue of a Female Diaconate Again

Source: FSSPX News

An association militating for a female diaconate

The issue of the female diaconate was once again raised in Rome, with the greatest discretion, while several progressive groups are urging Pope Francis to decide in favor of this troubling initiative. 

In was with great discretion that a meeting of the Study Commission on the female diaconate, formed at the initiative of the Sovereign Pontiff, was organized in Rome from February 3 to 7, 2025.

The Holy See Press Office has, as of this time, remained silent on new exchanges, though their existence was confirmed by “two sources close to the case” to the news agency I.Media. It called the matter “one of the biggest issues of Francis’s pontificate.”

It is a sensitive matter to the point that the discussions and conclusions of these meetings – the previous one was held in 2022 – are subject to pontifical secrecy, which punishes any indiscretion with heavy canonical penalties. A first study commission was set up in 2016 by the Pope, under pressure from the International Union of Superiors General (UISG). It ended in an impasse.

In 2020, a new commission was set up, chaired by Cardinal Giuseppe Petrocchi. In reality, the work had been resumed since 2023 under the auspices of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, headed by a man trusted by the Pope, Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernandez.

As the website cath.ch points out, reporting the I.Media dispatch, the new body includes five women, as well as several deacons and theologians including Dominic Cerrato, the American who published a study at the beginning of 2025 concluding that the proposal to admit women to the diaconate would mark, according to him, "a corruption and a break with the apostolic tradition and the theological coherence of the Church."

According to Religion News (RNS), the American association Discerning Deacons – which campaigns for the female diaconate – presented the testimonies of several women who were particularly “invested” in the liturgical life of their parish. The whole range of arguments in favor of female inclusion seems to have been deployed, not to mention tearful rhetoric: “lack of recognition,” “pain,” and “suffering” from feeling “excluded” by the Church, and so forth.

It must be said that progressive pressure groups are still powerful within the Church in the United States. According to them, 64% of American Catholics would support women’s access to major orders.

But the Roman Pontiff, despite his progressivism on many issues, seems so far to be trying to give the innovators a bone to chew on in order to postpone the subject indefinitely. This is a questionable policy, since the matter has already been decided by the Council of Trent and by John Paul II.

Will Francis make a decision on this issue? The double pneumonia he is suffering from reshuffles the cards. In any case, from February 21 to 23, the Jubilee of Deacons brought major clerics from all over the world to the Vatican. The Discerning Deacons association has already responded and was entrusted with leading one of the workshops.