“He called me, surprised, to talk about deaconesses! He is thinking about a commission. Let us not jump to any conclusions!” The Substitute for General Affairs to the Secretary of State, Archbishop Angelo Becciu, sent a tweet about Francis’ reaction to media coverage of the news about his willingness to discuss the matter. Indeed, his agreement to further study of the female diaconate – in answer to a question put to him – was passed off as a go-ahead for the ordination of female deacons.
The director of the Holy See Press Office, Fr. Federico Lombardi, commented: “The Pope has a wonderful conversation with mother superiors from all over the world. He gave a beautiful and encouraging address on women, especially consecrated women, in the context of Church life and on their tasks in important positions in the dicasteries, without implying ordination.”
“What got everyone excited was the fact that the Pope – in answer to a question – talked about a commission to study the issue of the female diaconate. The question, which was discussed a great deal in the past as well, arose because in the early Church there were female figures called “diaconesses”, who served in the community. A number of historical studies examined this fact and in was mentioned by the Pope.”
“Also,” Lombardi said, “an important document issued by the International Theological Commission in 2002 talks about it. The Pope says he is thinking of establishing a commission that can look into these questions, offering a clearer picture. But let us be honest, the Pope did not say he intends to introduce the ordination of women deacons, much less so did he talk about ordaining female priests. On the contrary, speaking about preaching during the Eucharistic celebration, he made it clear that he is not considering this at all.”
In his conversation with women superiors, Francis drew the line when it came to women pronouncing the homily at mass. It is fine if a woman – whether a nun or a lay person – preaches during a Liturgy of the Word. But “in the Eucharistic Celebration there would be a liturgical-dogmatic issue, because the celebration is one – the Liturgy of the Word and the Liturgy of the Eucharist are united – and it is Jesus Christ who presides over these. The priest or the bishop who presides does so in the person of Jesus Christ. It is a theological-liturgical reality. In this context, since female ordination does not exist, they cannot preside.”
The Pope reiterated what he has said before about the need to give more space to women in the Church, on a decision-making level as well. “There’s no problem when it comes to leadership: we need to cautiously move forward with this, seeking solutions.” This was a reference to all positions of responsibility that do not require the presence of an ordained priest. Francis gave relevant examples, relating to the Roman Curia too: we shall see if at the end of the long reform and merging process, the criteria for giving more space to women and laity in general in the Church, will be applied, as has not been the case so far.
The full transcript of the Pope’s conversation with the women religious has contributed to de-escalate the deaconess case. Francis spoke of “two temptations” we need to “guard against”. “The first is feminism: the role of women in the Church is not about feminism, it is a right! It is a right of the baptized with the charisms and gifts that the Spirit has given. It does not need to fall into feminism, because this would reduce the importance of a woman.” Bergoglio said that with regard to this, he does not see “a great danger among religious women” at the moment.
“The other danger, which is a very strong temptation and I have spoken about it on many occasions, is clericalism. And this is very strong. Just think: today, more than 60% of parishes – I don’t know about dioceses, but perhaps a little less – have neither a financial council nor a pastoral council. What does this say? That that parish and that diocese is guided by a clerical spirit, only by priests, that parish life lacks synodality, a diocesan synodality, which was not introduced by this Pope. No! It is found in Canon Law, it is an obligation of the pastor to receive advice from the laity, for and with laypersons, women and religious on pastoral care and economic matters. But they do not do this.”
This “is the danger of clericalism in the Church today. We must move forward and remove this danger, because the priest is a servant of the community, the bishop is a servant of the community, but not the boss of a business. No! This is important. In Latin America, for example, clericalism is very strong, very marked. The laity do not know what to do, they do not ask things of the priest... It is very strong. And for this the awareness of the role of the laity in Latin America has greatly been halted. Some of this is salvaged a bit only by popular piety: because the protagonist is the people and the people have done it on their terms, and among the priests this doesn’t interest them much, and some do not look well upon this phenomenon of popular piety. But clericalism is a negative attitude. And it has an accomplice, because it takes two to tango... that is: the priest who wants to clericalise the laity, the religious, the laity who say: “please let me be clericalised,” because it is more comfortable.”
Finally, Francis told a telling story to illustrate his point: “This is interesting. In Buenos Aires, I had this experience three or four times: a great pastor, who comes and says to me: ‘You know, I have an amazing layman in the parish: he does this and this, he knows how to organize things, he does things on his own, he’s a really worthy man... So do we make him a deacon?’ That is to say: do we ‘clericalise’ him? “No! Let the layman remain a layman. Do not make him a deacon.” This is important. This can happen to you too, clericalism often keeps you from the right development of things.”
This response, which echoes the one he gave Italian newspaper La Stampa back in December 2013 in answer to a question about the future possibility of female cardinals in the Catholic Church – and which raised a few expectations - clearly shows that allowing women to be ordained deacons is not among the Pope’s priorities when it comes to showing women a greater appreciation in the Church. It would be a principally “clerical” route.