Pope Francis has dashed cold water on proposals for female deacons, saying that “Holy Orders is reserved for men.”
In an interview that appears in a book released in Italy this week, the Pontiff recalled that an investigation into reports that female deacons appeared in the early Church, conducted by the International Theological Commission, concluded that the blessing of these women “was comparable to the benedictions of abbesses.”
“The fact that the woman does not access ministerial life is not a deprivation, because her place is much more important,” the Pope said. But the introduction of women into Holy Orders would be a “theological problem.”