(RNS) — The Vatican released a document Thursday (Dec. 4) stating that current church teaching does not permit women to be ordained as deacons, while emphasizing that the opinion is not a final ruling.
The document, however, a summary of the work of a Vatican-appointed Study Commission on the Women’s Diaconate, is the most extensive official review to date on the issue. It was submitted to Pope Leo XIV, who will decide whether and how to act on its conclusions.
“This assessment is strong, although it does not allow, at present, for a definitive judgment,” wrote the study commission’s chair, Cardinal Giuseppe Petrocchi.
The seven-page summary presents a series of internal votes taken by the commission between 2021 and 2025 and draws on historical research, biblical scholarship, sacramental theology and a review of written submissions received from the Synod on Synodality’s consultations. The commission said that, while “many contributions flowed in,” only 22 individuals or groups ultimately provided written material and that their views “could not be considered as the voice of the Synod let alone the People of God as a whole.”
In 2020, Pope Francis created an earlier Vatican commission to study questions surrounding women deacons. That initial group never released its findings publicly.
The new repo …