“I am a bit angry because this is not telling the truth of things”, he added. “I thought I would bring whatever talents I could to my church”.
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“I cannot say if it could happen soon, but it is encouraging”.
Pope Francis has set up commission of seven men and six women.
The pope had told superiors of nuns’ orders in May that he meant to “set up an official commission to study the question” of the diaconate for women “above all regarding the early times of the church”, the Vatican said.
The question of women serving as deacons goesback to the earliest days of Christianity.
Other than being the main celebrant of the Mass, deacons may perform numerous same functions as priests: preaching, officiating at marriages and funerals and playing a role in running Catholic parishes.
Deacons perform numerous functions of priests: They may preach the Gospel and deliver the homily at Mass, and they may perform some sacraments, including baptism and matrimony.
Allowing women to enter the clergy at a rank just below a priest would represent a first step towards correcting this imbalance, they argue.
Almost all of the panel’s members are theologians and university professors.
Big news from the Vatican that could pave the way for women in the Catholic Church. Allan feel the time has come for women deacons.
Zagano said local needs and customs would have to inform any decision about women deacons.
Vatican needed to set-up a deadline date for this Commission to announce conclusions, Zed pointed out.
The special commission will be led by Jesuit Archbishop Luis Francisco Ladaria Ferrer, the Secretary of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.
Francis said in May that he was unclear about the history and that it “would do good for the Church to clarify this point”. She has spoken at events sponsored by organizations that promote women’s ordination to the priesthood.
Pope Francis says while visiting the former Auschwitz and Birkenau Nazi death camps in Poland he reflected on today’s cruelties in “this world sick with cruelty, violence and suffering”.
Deacons are ordained to a ministry in the Church and for the Church, not to the priesthood.
In the Catholic Church, deacons can baptize people, officiate at weddings and preach at Masses. “What better candidate than a female with paternal instincts”.
The Women’s Ordination Conference issued a statement that month saying “until women are included in all decision-making structures and as priests and bishops of the church, equality remains painfully denied”.
Formicola, the Seton Hall professor, praised the pope’s collaborative approach to the issue – allowing a “bottom-up” form of input within a hierarchical institution.
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Last year, she penned a piece for the Harvard Divinity Bulletin called “Ordain Catholic Women as Deacons”. “They said: ‘The Church opens the door to deaconesses.’ Really?” the pope said.
