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 ...

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 ...

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.

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 ...

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 ...

Women must take a greater role in the Catholic Church, but any reform allowing them to be deacons will not occur in the short ...