In the News

In a frank assessment of the complex role of women in the Catholic Church and its leadership, a Vatican study group called for broader access to positions of authority for Catholic women worldwide and for the church to confront what it described as persistent patterns of clericalism and “machismo.” … In a statement reacting to…
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Continuing the all-male tradition, on Thursday, Dec. 4, the Vatican’s papal commission voted against permitting women to serve as deacons in the Roman Catholic Church. Though not the highest in the clergy food chain, deacons are ordained ministers permitted to administer the sacraments of matrimony, baptism and engage in other roles; they do not celebrate…
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Pope Leo XIV arrives at the Cathedral of the Holy Spirit (St. Esprit Cathedral) in Istanbul for a meeting with bishops, priests, deacons, consecrated men and women, and pastoral workers on Nov. 28. A commission appointed by his predecessor, Francis, on Dec. 4 ruled out admitting women to the Diaconate. (Photo: AFP) Pope Francis formed two…
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The latest decision on women deacons won’t help stop the exodus of young women from the Church … Others were not so positive. The Women’s Ordination Conference was “appalled by the Vatican’s refusal to open its doors to women, even a crack,” it said in a statement. “Make no mistake: this is a decision that will…
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VATICAN CITY — A Vatican commission is yet to take a firm decision on whether women could become deacons, but the answer for now remains no, according to a document made public on Thursday. The late pope Francis set up the commission under Cardinal Giuseppe Petrocchi in 2020 to look into the issue amid a…
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The U.S.-based Women’s Ordination Conference (WOC), which supports ordination of women as deacons and priests, said it is “appalled by the Vatican’s refusal to open its doors to women, even a crack.” “Make no mistake: This is a decision that will harm the global Church,” WOC said in a statement. “Few will have the patience to excavate hope…
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A high-level Vatican commission voted against allowing Catholic women to serve as deacons, maintaining the global Church’s practice of all-male clergy, according to a report given to Pope Leo and released on Thursday. Read the article with a quote from WOC here

Perhaps someday, the Catholic Church will allow women to serve as deacons. But that time, a Vatican commission has decided, is not now. The Vatican’s decision was excoriated by the Women’s Ordination Conference, a national group that has long advocated for women’s ordination in the Church. “The Women’s Ordination Conference is appalled by the Vatican’s refusal to open…
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(RNS) — The Vatican released a document Thursday (Dec. 4) stating that current church teaching does not permit women to be ordained as deacons, while emphasizing that the opinion is not a final ruling. … “Our sacramentality isn’t up for debate,” said Kate McElwee, executive director of the Women’s Ordination Conference, a grassroots organization that…
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ROME (AP) — A second Vatican study commission has determined that women should not be ordained as deacons, dealing another setback to Catholic women who hope one day to be able to preside at weddings, baptisms and funerals. The Vatican on Thursday took the unusual step of publishing a synthesis of the commission’s findings, including the members’…
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