The Belgian bishops’ conference has indicated support for a discussion of a female diaconate, and an end to mandatory clerical celibacy, at the October meeting of the Synod on Synodality.
In a letter to all dioceses in Belgium, the episcopal conference calls for discussion of the role that women should fill in the Church, and suggests that the possibility of ordaining femal deacons should be left to the decision of national bishops’ conferences. The letter leans toward a similar solution to the discipline of priestly celibacy.