The church depends on donations from nations whose better off have been educated on the baptismal equality of all persons.

Every church, practically and functionally, has to come down on a position. You’re either going to install women into the office of deacon—or not.

In fact, according to a copy of the draft obtained by the Register, there was no mention of the possibility of women deacons at all. The language’s last-minute insertion may be an indication of ...

But women ordained as deacons could fill the gap, performing baptisms, witnessing marriages, presiding at funerals and preaching the homily at Mass. Expectations for change rose after Francis ...

But on the question of whether women could be ordained as deacons, the church said the possibility “remains open” and required further meditation. Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich of Luxembourg ...

"The synod is good news," said Amman, deputy director of engagement for Discerning Deacons, which advocates for restoring the female diaconate in the church. Not only did the synod on synodality ...

Kasper has a history of backing the idea of giving women some of the responsibilities of deacons. At an assembly of German bishops in 2013, the cardinal presented the possibility of deaconesses ...

Catholic deacons can preside over baptisms, weddings and funerals, but only priests can celebrate mass. Ordaining women deacons was a "fringe proposal pushed by Western progressives" before the ...

On a barge on Rome's River Tiber, a stone's throw from the Vatican, Loan Rocher was "ordained" in a secret ceremony in defiance of the Catholic Church's ban on women deacons and priests.

Frustrations about the slow pace of reform bubbled into the open during the assembly when the pope’s doctrine adviser ruled out ordaining women as deacons and then failed to turn up to a meeting ...

The synod concluded without movement on the question of women deacons, but kept the issue open. That was frustrating to advocates but also has helped some remain hopeful.