Francis to create commission to study female deacons in Catholic church

[rug]

by Joshua J. McElwee | May. 12, 2016

VATICAN CITY Pope Francis has announced he will create a commission to study the possibility of allowing women to serve as deacons in the Catholic church, signaling an historic openness to the possibility of ending the global institution’s practice of an all-male clergy.

The pontiff indicated he would create such a commission during a meeting at the Vatican Thursday with some 900 leaders of the world’s congregations of Catholic women religious, who asked him during a question-and-answer session why the church excludes women from serving as deacons.

The women religious, meeting with the pope as part of the triennial assembly of the International Union of Superiors General (UISG), told Francis that women had served as deacons in the early church and asked: “Why not construct an official commission that might study the question?”

The pope responded that he had spoken about the matter once some years ago with a “good, wise professor” who had studied the use of female deacons in the early centuries of the church. Francis said it remained unclear to him what role such deacons had.

http://ncronline.org/news/vatican/francis-create-commission-study-female-deacons-catholic-church

[meow2u3]

1. Cue conservatives' heads exploding in 3, 2, 1....

[beemer27]

2. It will be fun to watch them blow up!

There is not a doubt in my young mind that there will be many "experts" to tell us that women have never served in any capacity like this. These are the same sort that created lies about Mary Magdalene in the early Church. For some reason there is a certain kind of man who is scared that women might be as capable as men. In the Church, these men have used whatever tools it took to keep women in "their place". Some women would make excellent Church officials, and some would be failures. Kinda like men. The issue of ordination is a different matter and honest people can argue that both ways, and be right. The other offices in the Church should be open to the most qualified and capable person, regardless of their genitals. I am happy that this Pope is willing to discuss the matter and actually have a fair study made of it. This will PO many of the conservative Catholics, and bring back many of the lapsed Catholics. This is the kind of Pope that the Church has needed for a long time. i hope that nothing happens to him.

[47of74]

3. Yeah that was my first thought too.

Does it make me a bad person if I like watching the head 'splosions?