In a statement last Friday, Lauder praised the pontiff, who has forged closer ties between the Catholic Church and Jews since his election in 2013.
Advertisement
The WOC, which actively works for women’s ordination as priests and bishops, said it hopes the commission will create a “new reality” for women in the church, “one that models equality and inclusion”.
Nearly all of the panel’s members are theologians and university professors. “I believe yes”, she said. Allowing a female homily voice at Masses would perhaps be the most significant outcome of the diaconate of women. Women deserve to be brought more fully into the decision-making of the church. “Not that I am sexist or anything, but I think that’s what scripture supports”. “The significance of the possibility of women deacons can not be underestimated”.
Zagano, a religious scholar and leading proponent for female deacons, was the only American appointed to the commission and is one of six women named to the group. Zagano has written a book entitled “Holy Saturday: An Argument for the Restoration of the Female Diaconate in the Catholic Church”. They can preside over weddings and funerals but cannot celebrate Mass. While priests take a vow of celibacy, deacons can be married men. Still, the question of expanding the diaconate or priesthood to women has lingered.
Pope Francis then prayed for Polish Cardinal Franciszek Macharski, a close friend of the late Pope John Paul II. He issued a four-paragraph apostolic letter, Ordinatio Sacerdotalis, that affirmed the church’s previous determination that it did not have the authority to ordain women as priests.
“Were women ordained as deacons?” That commission, active from 1992 to 1997, published a study that Zagano writes appeared to approve women as deacons. Menke was a student of Pope Benedict XVI and seems to portray himself as a centrist.
Pope Francis has set up a commission to study the role of women deacons in early Christianity, the Vatican said on Tuesday, a move that might lead to changes in the role of women in the Roman Catholic Church.
“I have a PhD, I’ve been in political office, I’ve done many things”, Formicola said. ISIS is critical of Francis standing behind the gay community in the aftermath of the ISIS-inspired attack on a gay nightclub June 13 in Orlando, Fla., that left 50 dead, including the shooter, and 53 wounded.
He had told senior members of women’s religious orders he was open to the issue of considering female deacons: “It would be useful for the Church to clarify this question”.
“The first to be surprised by this news was me”, he told reporters in a briefing aboard a plane following his visit to Armenia, according to the Catholic News Agency. Father Georges Cottier, the head of that commission, said at the time that while the group came to no definitive position, it generally felt women had not served in a sacramental role in the early church.
“Our nation just witnessed the single deadliest mass shooting at Pulse Nightclub in Orlando, specifically targeting the LGBT community, and what we need now is for our world leaders to spread messages of tolerance and acceptance”, Louie said.
Advertisement
Advocates for women in the priesthood say the commission is a step in the right direction.
