Announced today -- report by Vatican News (followed by our translation of the full text of letter and report submitted to Pope Leo XIV):
Petrocchi Commission says no to female diaconate, though judgment not definitive
A report presenting the results of the Commission’s work has been released. It rules out admitting women to the diaconate understood as a degree of the sacrament of Holy Orders, but says that it is not currently possible “to formulate a definitive judgment, as in the case of priestly ordination.” [Vatican News]
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Summary of the Study Commission on the Female Diaconate, December 4, 2025
To His Holiness
Leo XIV
Dear Holy Father,
I am writing to you because, as is well known, Pope Francis has taken up the question of the possible access of women to the diaconate. For this reason, bearing in mind the work carried out by the various commissions appointed to study this subject, I would like to submit to you a brief summary of some key issues in the hope that they may be of help to you in your discernment.
Drawing on historical research, the first Commission already stated: “The Church has recognized at different times, in different places, and in various forms the title of deacon/deaconess referring to women, but attributing to it a non-univocal meaning.”1 This statement is in line with another proposition formulated by the International Theological Commission: “It seems clear that this ministry was not intended as a simple female equivalent of the male diaconate.”2
The second Commission, which I chaired, unanimously agreed—in its first session (2021)—to draw up the following thesis (no. 3): “Given the current state of historical research and our knowledge of biblical and patristic evidence, it can reasonably be said that the female diaconate, which developed unevenly in different parts of the Church, was not understood as the simple female equivalent of the male diaconate and does not seem to have had a sacramental character.”3
We know, however, that a purely historical perspective does not allow us to reach any definitive certainty. Ultimately, the question must be decided on a doctrinal level (cf. Benedict XVI, Letter for the 50th anniversary of the establishment of the CTI).
Therefore, the issues relating to the diaconal ordination of women remain open to further theological and pastoral study, while maintaining the principle of “communio hierarchica,” which assigns the final decision on these issues to the Magisterium of the Church, as an authoritative response to questions present in some sectors of the People of God.
I would like to point out that the following considerations are inevitably incomplete and fragmentary compared to the documentation produced by the Commission I chaired.
However, they can represent cognitive “coordinates” aimed at promoting a comprehensive view of the argumentative terrain we have entered.
For a shared methodological choice, the Members of the Commission were called upon, at the end of their dialogue, to express, through a vote, their summary opinion on the core theme that had been debated.
The results of the vote on thesis no. 3 of the Second Session (mentioned on the previous page) are reported in schematic form.
Number Thesis | Results | ||
Placet | Non Placet | Present | |
3 | 7 | 0 | 1 |
In 2021, theological discussion led to the formulation of the following thesis:
“Systematic study of the diaconate, within the framework of the theology of the sacrament of Holy Orders, raises questions about the compatibility of the ordination of women as deacons with Catholic doctrine on ordained ministry.”4
The vote on this sentence was unanimous:
Number Thesis | Results | ||
Yes | No | Present | |
4 | 10 | 0 | 0 |
The Commission then voted on the following statements:
5A “The undersigned is not in favor of establishing a female diaconate in the Church as a third degree of Holy Orders.”5
5B "The undersigned is not currently in favor of establishing a female diaconate in the Church as a third degree of Holy Orders. This assessment is based on the historical and theological elements acquired to date, without excluding subsequent developments on this issue."6
5C “The undersigned is in favor of establishing the female diaconate in the Church today, understood as the third degree of Holy Orders.”7
The results of the votes were the following:
Number theses | Results | ||
Yes | No | Present | |
5A 5 5B 5C | 4 4 2 | 5 5 6 | 1 1 2 |
The Commission also discussed the possibility of establishing new ministries and voted unanimously on the following thesis (no. 7):
“The implementation of such ministries could contribute to synergy between men and women. Their implementation would require the development of appropriate means of formation (theological, practical, mystagogical) and support.”8
Number thesis | Results | ||
Yes | No | Present | |
7 | 10 | 0 | 0 |
In the second session, held in July 2022, in an attempt to arrive at a synergistic formulation, the following thesis was voted on:
"The status quaestionis surrounding historical research and theological investigation, considered in their mutual implications, excludes the possibility of proceeding in the direction of admitting women to the diaconate understood as a degree of the sacrament of Holy Orders. In light of Sacred Scripture, Tradition, and ecclesiastical Magisterium, this assessment is strong, although it does not allow for a definitive judgment to be formulated at this time, as in the case of priestly ordination." 9
Number thesis | Results | ||
Placet | Non Placet | Present | |
5 | 7 | 1 | 0 |
During the last session, held in February 2025, the Commission received a large amount of significant written material to analyze on the issue of women deacons, after the Synod had invited anyone who wished to do so to send in their contributions. Although there were numerous submissions, only twenty-two individuals or groups sent in their papers, representing only a few countries. Consequently, although the material is abundant and in some cases skillfully argued, it cannot be considered the voice of the Synod, let alone of the People of God as a whole.
Furthermore, the significant problematic nature of the issue and the absence of sufficient consensus are also attested to by the preparatory documents of the Synod on Synodality. In fact, they state, for example, that “some consider that this step [the ordination of deaconesses] would be unacceptable, as it would be a break with Tradition”10; or: "... dangerous anthropological confusion, which, if accepted, would align the Church with the spirit of the times."11 It should also be noted that some Churches are firmly opposed to this prospect. We have been informed that in the final document of the Synod, proposition 60 on the study of the possibility of women's diaconate received the highest number of votes against (97 No).
The arguments in favor of women's ordination to the diaconate draw on ideas concerning theological anthropology. These beliefs often conflict with the tradition of the Catholic (and Orthodox) Church of admitting only baptized men to the sacrament of Holy Orders.
Theological and cultural currents that agree with opening the diaconate to women argue that these positions of Tradition seem to contradict:
· the equal status of “male” and “female” as images of God (Gen 1:27)
· the equal dignity of both genders, based on this biblical fact
· the declaration of faith that: “there is no longer Jew or Greek, slave or free, male or female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Gal 3:28)
· Social development that provides for equal access for both genders to all institutional and operational functions (including at the highest levels) of political and administrative life in which civil society is organized.
· Social development that provides equal access for both genders to all institutional and operational functions (including at the highest levels) of political and administrative life in which civil society is organized.
For these reasons, many petitions do not limit themselves to asking for the admission of women to the sacrament of the diaconate, but argue that the other degrees of Holy Orders (priesthood and episcopate) should also be made accessible to women. The argument based on the masculinity of Jesus Christ is seen as a sexist and narrow view, leading to discrimination against women. According to these views, the repraesentatio Christi should no longer be linked to gender categories, but should focus on the ministerial mediation of salvation through men and women.
From this perspective, since ordination to the diaconate is not ad sacerdotium but ad ministerium (LG 29), the exclusion of women would not seem justified, since women too are capable of representing Christ as diakonos.12
In the documentation received, read carefully, many women described their work for the Church, often carried out with great dedication, as if it were a sufficient criterion for ordination to the diaconate. Others spoke of a strong “feeling” of having been called, as if it were the necessary proof to guarantee the Church the validity of their vocation and to demand that this conviction be accepted. Many already performed diaconal functions, especially in communities without a priest, and believed they were “worthy” of receiving ordination, having, in some way, acquired the right to it. Others simply spoke of wanting ordination as a sign of visibility, authority, respect, support, and above all, equality.13
In a very different line of thought, the following thesis was put forward during the third session:
“The masculinity of Christ, and therefore the masculinity of those who receive Holy Orders, is not accidental but is an integral part of sacramental identity, preserving the divine order of salvation in Christ. Altering this reality would not be a simple adjustment of the ministry but a break with the nuptial meaning of salvation.”
The above paragraph recorded the following outcome in the Commission's vote:
· 5 out of 10 members considered confirming it as it stands;
· 5 out of 10 members considered that it should be deleted.
During this last session, the Commission discussed another thesis with particular interest:
"In this regard, it is now appropriate to broaden women's access to ministries established for the service of the community. Pope Francis' motu proprio Spiritus Domini and Antiquum ministerium, while confirming what was expressed in St. John Paul II's Apostolic Letter Ordinatio Sacerdotalis, move in this direction. It is now up to the discernment of pastors to evaluate what further ministries can be introduced for the concrete needs of the Church of our time, thus also ensuring adequate ecclesial recognition of the diaconate of the baptized, especially women. This recognition will be a prophetic sign, especially where women still suffer from gender discrimination."
The result of the vote was the following:
Preamble | Results | ||
Placet | Non Placet | Present | |
Diaconia and Diaconate | 9 | 1 | 0 |
Final considerations
I would like to add a personal comment after carefully informing myself (also thanks to the contribution of my collaborators) about the main conceptual trends emerging in the vast material as well as in the texts drafted by the various commissions.
The body of documentation, compiled by the various commissions that have succeeded one another, shows that there is an intense theoretical and existential dialectic between two theological orientations (this is also evident in the results of some of the commissions' votes). One of them insists on the assertion that the ordination of deacons is “ad ministerium” and not “ad sacerdotium”: this factor would open the way to the ordination of female deacons. The other, on the other hand, insists on the unity of the Sacrament of Holy Orders, together with the spousal meaning of the three degrees that constitute it, and rejects the hypothesis of the female diaconate: it also points out that if the admission of women to the first degree of Holy Orders were approved, their exclusion from the others would be inexplicable.
The pronouncements of these opposing theological “schools” and the lack of convergence on fundamental doctrinal and pastoral polarities motivate, in my opinion, the maintenance of a prudent evaluative line on the issue of the diaconate for women. a choice to be accompanied by “global” investigations, increasingly well-equipped and aimed, with far-sighted wisdom, at exploring these ecclesial horizons.
In this context, it seems essential, as a prerequisite for further discernment, to encourage a rigorous and broad critical examination of the “diaconate itself,” that is, of its sacramental ‘identity’ and its ecclesial “mission,” clarifying certain “structural” and pastoral aspects that are not yet fully defined. In this “diakonia to the truth,” the Church must act with evangelical “parrhesia,” but also with the necessary freedom of evaluation and discursive transparency.
It should also be noted that in many dioceses around the world the ministry of the diaconate does not exist, and in entire continents this sacramental institution is almost absent. Where it is active, the activities of deacons often coincide with the roles of lay ministries or liturgical ministers, raising questions among the People of God about the specific meaning of their ordination.
It should also be emphasized that the various commissions were unanimous in pointing out the need to expand “communal spaces” so that women can express adequate participation and co-responsibility in the decision-making centers of the Church, including through the creation of new lay ministries.
At the end of these considerations, I believe it is important to note that the Commission insisted on the urgency of valuing “baptismal diakonia” as the foundation of any ecclesial ministry.
In this context, the “Marian dimension” must be better understood and developed as the soul of every “diakonia” in the Church and in humanity.
Monsignor Denis Dupont-Fauville, who has carried out the role of Secretary of the Commission with dedication and competence, has signed these pages with me.
Hoping to have offered a useful contribution, I greet you with filial devotion, reconfirming my full unity of mind and heart with the Successor of Peter.
With these sentiments of profound esteem and complete pastoral “closeness,” I ask for your paternal blessing, assuring you with gratitude of my prayers.
Rome, September 18, 2025
In the Lord
Giuseppe Card. Petrocchi
President
Mons. Denis Dupont-Fauville
Secretary
[NOTES:]
1 Text drafted by the first Commission as a whole.
2 International Theological Commission, The Diaconate: Evolution and Prospects (2002), II, 4.
3 The same Commission specifies: "Although some testimonies, considered in isolation, suggest that the female diaconate had sacramental features at certain times and in certain places, when the sources are evaluated as a whole, according to the hermeneutical criterion of the organic unity of Tradition, it can be concluded that, in general, the female diaconate was conceived as a sui generis ministry. This ministry—unlike the episcopate, the presbyterate, and the diaconate conferred on men—does not fall within the line of apostolic succession. At the time, this female diaconate testified to the Church's ability to respond to certain pastoral challenges within societies characterized by a rigid separation between the sexes": Second Session, July 11-16, 2022, n. 3.
