Papal commission ‘says no’ to women deacons, but not really

David Martin | The Daily Knight

A commission initiated by Pope Francis in 2020 to examine the possibility of women deacons has released a report of its findings at the request of Pope Leo XIV. While the commission supposedly rules out the possibility of women deacons it refuses to make a definitive judgment on the matter.

“The status quaestionis of historical research and theological investigation, as well as their mutual implications, excludes the possibility of proceeding in the direction of admitting women to the diaconate understood as a degree of the sacrament of Holy Orders.

“In light of Sacred Scripture, Tradition, and the Church’s Magisterium, this assessment is strongly maintained, although it does not allow for a definitive judgment to be formulated, as is the case with priestly ordination.”

The report contradicts itself. First it “excludes the possibility of proceeding in the direction of admitting women to the diaconate” and then says, “it does not allow for a definitive judgment to be formulated.” 

A Preparatory Step for the Priesthood

“A definitive judgment” on women deacons is already established and cannot be “formulated” because this judgment was decreed from the beginning by “Sacred Scripture, Tradition, and the Church’s Magisterium.” The deaconate is a preparatory step for the priesthood, which automatically excludes women since women cannot be priests.

For this same reason there is no such thing as a “permanent” or “married deacon” though the church carelessly throws these terms around today. The diaconate can only be seen “as a degree of the sacrament of Holy Orders” yet Rome is still open to women deacons as if they didn’t know this.  

Making a study or question out of something that is already magisterial clearly indicates an attempt to undo doctrine and tradition. It’s like making a study out of the Resurrection or the Immaculate Conception to decide whether or not these teachings are true or if there is something new that we should learn about them.

A Plan to Redefine the Deaconate

The commission claims it has given a thumbs down on women deacons but what is emphasized is that discussion and deliberation over the female diaconate must continue into the future. The objective of modernists is to redefine the deaconate as something other than a preparatory step to the priesthood in order to encourage the idea of women deacons.  

According to Cardinal Giuseppe Petrocchi who heads the commission, continued study is indispensable. Consider the following from the December 4 Vatican report.

“According to the cardinal, it is essential, for continued study, to undertake ‘a rigorous and wide-ranging critical examination focused on the deaconate itself—that is, on its sacramental identity and its ecclesial mission—clarifying certain structural and pastoral aspects that are currently not fully defined.’”

In his report, Cardinal Petrocchi says a "purely historical perspective does not allow us to reach any definitive certainty. Ultimately, the question must be decided on a doctrinal level. Therefore, issues relating to the ordination of women as deacons remain open to further theological and pastoral study."

Media Inciting Feminists

Clearly, the matter of women deacons is still being floated by Rome. We should note that while the Vatican has come to no solid conclusion on women deacons the Catholic and mainline media have sounded the horn that Rome has rejected the prospect of the female deaconate. This apparently is being done to instigate feminist protest and clamor over women deacons so as to apply pressure to the hierarchy as it continues its “dialogue” on this issue.

With all due respect for the cardinals that voted 7 to 1 against women deacons, there are many players on the commission, including five women, who are exerting their pull. Vatican radicals plan it that once the female deaconate is allowed on the grounds that it is not a preparatory step for the priesthood, they will continue their “critical examination” and later arrive at the conclusion that the deaconate in fact is about priestly preparation so that ordained women deacons will now be in line to become priests.

Whether things play out this way remains to be seen but it is quite safe to say that this is what Vatican liberals now have planned for the Catholic Church.