ACI Prensa Staff, Dec 4, 2025 / 13:37 pm

The Vatican published on Dec. 4 the summary of the work carried out by the commissions studying the possibility of admitting women to the diaconate, presented to Pope Leo XIV by Cardinal Giuseppe Petrocchi.

Petrocchi, the president of the Study Commission on the Female Diaconate created by Pope Francis, stated that — with seven votes in favor and one against — the possibility of admitting women to the diaconate as a degree of the sacrament of holy orders is ruled out.

However, he emphasized that for the moment it is not possible “to formulate a definitive judgment, as in the case of priestly ordination.”

Historical investigation into so-called ‘deaconesses’

This second working session — following the one held in 2021 — ended last February, and

See Full Page