A commission set up by Pope Francis to study women deacons has voted against the possibility of ordaining women deacons while also supporting more study on the issue.
It also expressed hope that women’s access to other ministries would be expanded. Pope Francis established the “Study Commission on the Female Diaconate” in 2020 as a follow-up to a previous group that studied the history of women deacons in the New Testament and the early Christian communities.
The Vatican published the synthesis, including the results of votes the commission members took on eight different statements or “theses.” One proposition that showed members split exactly down the middle was: “The masculinity of Christ, and therefore the masculinity of those who receive Holy Orders, is not accidental but is an integral part of sacramental identity, preserving the divine order of salvation in Christ.
“To alter this reality would not be a simple adjustment of ministry but a rupture of the nuptial meaning of salvation.”
When this statement was put to a vote among 10 members in February, it received five votes in favor, confirming its current form, while the other five members voted to remove it.
A statement that received six votes against, two for and two abstaining was: “The undersigned is in favor of the institution in the church of the female diaconate as understood as the third degree of holy orders.”