No matter: Francis himself seems to have forgotten the history of women ordained as deacons. When he spoke with CBS News’ Norah O’Donnell in an interview last spring, she asked if young girls ...

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.

"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 ...

26, it emphasized that the possibility of women deacons remains unsettled. “The question of women’s access to diaconal ministry remains open,” reads the document, which was expressly ...

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 ...

A major Vatican meeting gathering clerics and laity across the globe to discuss the future of the Catholic Church closes this weekend, thwarting discussion of women becoming priests or deacons in ...

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 ...