Will Pope Francis decide to have women deacons?

The papal commission has been mulling this question for almost two years. No decision seems imminent — but you never know. Christopher Altieri in The Catholic Herald looks at four scenarios: 

Everything that follows is pure speculation, but there seem to be four possible paths of response, once Pope Francis receives the results of the study commission:

1. He decides to introduce women to the ordained diaconate alongside men.
2. He decides to restore the ancient “Order of Deaconesses” that was part of ecclesiastical life in the early Church.
3. He decides to say no to any proposal.
4. He decides to say nothing.

The first option seems the least likely. For starters, such a move would fly in the face of the prevailing theological understanding of the “unity of Holy Orders” – the idea that the degrees of Holy Orders are fully possessed by every bishop and articulated in the lower degrees (deacon and priest) by participation – according to which each person receiving Orders must be capable, ceteris paribus, of receiving each higher degree.

It would be difficult to introduce women to the same, doubtlessly sacramental diaconate currently open only to men in a way that would both preserve the unity of Orders and be strictly limited, so the all-male priesthood (not to mention episcopacy) that is undoubtedly part of the divine constitution of the Church would remain intact.

Theologians in Rome suggest that some Catholics in favour of women deacons see it as a “side door” into the priesthood. They also note that Benedict XVI’s 2009 motu proprio Omnium in mentem clarified that deacons do not by virtue of their orders act “in the person of Christ the Head”, but are “empowered to serve the People of God in the ministries of the liturgy, the word and charity”.

It is not easy to grasp the precise intentions behind the modification, but it does have the effect of providing a layer of legal protection and isolation of deacons generally from the higher degrees of Holy Orders.

The second option seems more plausible: restoring the Order of Deaconesses would be a compromise solution. The Order could be treated as one more closely akin to those of widows, virgins and others in the early Church, none of which was ever supposed to have sacramental character. Diocesan bishops would presumably be free to decide whether to restore the Order within their jurisdictions, and if any did, to experiment and determine how best to use them.

See what he says about the other possibilities here.