“Rushing” to open the diaconate to women in the Catholic Church would short-circuit a necessary reflection on the relationship between ordained ministry and charismatic leadership, particularly as it impacts the participation of women in the church, said the head of the Vatican’s doctrinal office.
In a recent article in the Vatican newspaper, Perroni said there are discriminatory notions behind the “Petrine and Marian principles” named by Pope Francis and previous popes.
The German bishops’ meeting with officials of the Roman Curia was not a “showdown,” but it did make clear the Vatican’s strong concerns about Germany’s Synodal Path, especially regarding its support for official ministries for women and for a change in church teaching about homosexuality, said the president of the bishops’ conference.
The protest occurred after the outcome of the bishops’ votes on “Witnessing to the Equal Dignity of Women and Men.”
The Synodal Path of the Catholic Church in Germany wants laypeople to be able to participate in choosing bishops and wants the church to have women deacons.
Pope Francis has established a new “Study Commission on the Female Diaconate” as a follow-up to a previous group that studied the history of women deacons in the New Testament and the early Christian communities.
To proclaim the Gospel message of hope, the Catholic Church in the Amazon must open new paths of evangelization in the region, including by instituting new ministries for lay men and women, the Synod of Bishops said.
A change to the Code of Canon Law made by Pope Benedict XVI in 2009 provides a canonical path to allow the ordination of women deacons, a Brazilian bishop said.
