Pope Francis didn't restore women deacons, but LI woman still thinks it's possible
"If you have a view of the church where the Vatican and St. Peter’s has a sign that says, ‘No girls allowed,’ I think it's a very bad" message, says Phyllis Zagano, a longtime proponent of the Catholic Church allowing women deacons. Credit: Howard Schnapp
Phyllis Zagano was sitting in the dining hall at the Santa Marta residence at the Vatican when Pope Francis came up to her and other members of a commission he named to study the issue of bringing back women deacons to the Roman Catholic Church.
Francis asked them half-jokingly, "So who’s going to be the first deaconess." And they all pointed to Zagano.
The Hofstra University professor has high hopes that the new pontiff selected by a conclave of cardinals that starts this week will continue Francis’ work toward approving women deacons, who would be able to preach at Mass and baptize people but would not be on a path to become priests.
"This is a critical juncture in world history, in modern church history, where the needs for an officially ordained ministry by women will speak far beyond the borders of Catholicism," Zagano said.
"If you have a view of the church where the Vatican and St. Peter’s has a sign that says, ‘No girls allowed,’ I think it's a very bad" message, she said. "The pope’s funeral was beautiful, but how many women did you see" in prominent places?
Restoring women deacons to the Catholic Church faces opposition. Some think it will lead to women priests, a notion Zagano dismisses.
Amid a shortage of male priests, she says women deacons are needed more than ever. Some Catholic bishops in the Amazon region have already requested approval of women deacons from the Vatican. Zagano said they existed in the early centuries of the church, and that bringing them back would not require a change in church doctrine.
Deacons also can officiate at weddings. But unlike priests, they cannot celebrate Mass, hear confession or administer last rites. Deacons can be married since they do not make a vow or promise of celibacy as priests do. Priests and deacons are ordained.
Francis appointed Zagano to a commission that studied the issue of women deacons from 2016 to 2018. She spent about five months living in Santa Marta, where the pope resided. Francis also had put the topic on the table for other general meetings of church leaders.
But he had not brought back women deacons before he died last month.
Francis "did what he could," Zagano said. "He was an extraordinary individual who took chances, and I think one of the chances he took was to introduce the discussion of ordaining women in the diaconate."
No one knows who the next pope will be, or his stance on women deacons. But Zagano contends the 1.4 billion-member Roman Catholic Church must take major steps to elevate women — or risk losing many of them.
"You have a great diversity in the College of Cardinals" who will elect the next pope, she said. "You don't know who we're going to get, but whoever we get will be a man who will take the situation seriously and understand that women are walking away. And when they walk away, they bring their husbands and children, and their checkbooks."
Some church analysts do not think women deacons and other hot button issues such as allowing priests to be married or recognizing same-sex marriages will be openly discussed or lobbied for at the conclave, which starts Wednesday. But the cardinals have a general understanding of who is progressive, conservative or moderate, and it will be a factor in the selection of the next pontiff.
Since Francis appointed about 80% of the cardinals who will vote, some church experts say the next pope will be liberal or at least moderate.
"There aren’t the numbers to elect a real strong conservative," said David Gibson, director of the Center on Religion and Culture at Fordham University.
That might auger well for the reintroduction of women deacons — but probably not any time soon, church experts said. With opposition to the move still substantial, the new pope will probably want more backing before making a move, they said.
"I have a feeling that most of the cardinals are not willing to go further than Pope Francis did on that issue," said John Thavis, the former Rome bureau chief of Catholic News Service and the author of "The Vatican Diaries."
Opponents of women deacons see it "as a steppingstone to women priests, or women's ordination," he added.
The issue is contentious enough that conservative "opposition researchers" have included it in a list of topics they have investigated regarding potential pope candidates, said the Rev. Thomas Reese, a senior analyst for Religion News Service.
Conservatives "are using it as a test of people's orthodoxy or heterodoxy," he said, meaning adherence to traditional church teachings.
Still, he thinks women deacons could become a reality eventually, in part because the next pope probably won’t be conservative.
"I don't think a pope wants to do it unless he's got a consensus behind it," Reese said. "And I'm not sure we're there yet. Certainly, Francis didn't think we were there yet."
But with the next pope, "we're going to see more continuity than we see any kind of rollback," he said.
Zagano said her mission was clear. She says the pope himself told her when she saw him again in Santa Marta about two years ago.
"I asked him if he wanted me to stop and he said, no, that I must continue my work," she said.
Phyllis Zagano was sitting in the dining hall at the Santa Marta residence at the Vatican when Pope Francis came up to her and other members of a commission he named to study the issue of bringing back women deacons to the Roman Catholic Church.
Francis asked them half-jokingly, "So who’s going to be the first deaconess." And they all pointed to Zagano.
The Hofstra University professor has high hopes that the new pontiff selected by a conclave of cardinals that starts this week will continue Francis’ work toward approving women deacons, who would be able to preach at Mass and baptize people but would not be on a path to become priests.
"This is a critical juncture in world history, in modern church history, where the needs for an officially ordained ministry by women will speak far beyond the borders of Catholicism," Zagano said.
"If you have a view of the church where the Vatican and St. Peter’s has a sign that says, ‘No girls allowed,’ I think it's a very bad" message, she said. "The pope’s funeral was beautiful, but how many women did you see" in prominent places?
Restoring women deacons to the Catholic Church faces opposition. Some think it will lead to women priests, a notion Zagano dismisses.
Amid a shortage of male priests, she says women deacons are needed more than ever. Some Catholic bishops in the Amazon region have already requested approval of women deacons from the Vatican. Zagano said they existed in the early centuries of the church, and that bringing them back would not require a change in church doctrine.
Deacons also can officiate at weddings. But unlike priests, they cannot celebrate Mass, hear confession or administer last rites. Deacons can be married since they do not make a vow or promise of celibacy as priests do. Priests and deacons are ordained.
Francis appointed Zagano to a commission that studied the issue of women deacons from 2016 to 2018. She spent about five months living in Santa Marta, where the pope resided. Francis also had put the topic on the table for other general meetings of church leaders.
But he had not brought back women deacons before he died last month.
Francis "did what he could," Zagano said. "He was an extraordinary individual who took chances, and I think one of the chances he took was to introduce the discussion of ordaining women in the diaconate."
No one knows who the next pope will be, or his stance on women deacons. But Zagano contends the 1.4 billion-member Roman Catholic Church must take major steps to elevate women — or risk losing many of them.
"You have a great diversity in the College of Cardinals" who will elect the next pope, she said. "You don't know who we're going to get, but whoever we get will be a man who will take the situation seriously and understand that women are walking away. And when they walk away, they bring their husbands and children, and their checkbooks."
Some church analysts do not think women deacons and other hot button issues such as allowing priests to be married or recognizing same-sex marriages will be openly discussed or lobbied for at the conclave, which starts Wednesday. But the cardinals have a general understanding of who is progressive, conservative or moderate, and it will be a factor in the selection of the next pontiff.
Since Francis appointed about 80% of the cardinals who will vote, some church experts say the next pope will be liberal or at least moderate.
"There aren’t the numbers to elect a real strong conservative," said David Gibson, director of the Center on Religion and Culture at Fordham University.
That might auger well for the reintroduction of women deacons — but probably not any time soon, church experts said. With opposition to the move still substantial, the new pope will probably want more backing before making a move, they said.
"I have a feeling that most of the cardinals are not willing to go further than Pope Francis did on that issue," said John Thavis, the former Rome bureau chief of Catholic News Service and the author of "The Vatican Diaries."
Opponents of women deacons see it "as a steppingstone to women priests, or women's ordination," he added.
The issue is contentious enough that conservative "opposition researchers" have included it in a list of topics they have investigated regarding potential pope candidates, said the Rev. Thomas Reese, a senior analyst for Religion News Service.
Conservatives "are using it as a test of people's orthodoxy or heterodoxy," he said, meaning adherence to traditional church teachings.
Still, he thinks women deacons could become a reality eventually, in part because the next pope probably won’t be conservative.
"I don't think a pope wants to do it unless he's got a consensus behind it," Reese said. "And I'm not sure we're there yet. Certainly, Francis didn't think we were there yet."
But with the next pope, "we're going to see more continuity than we see any kind of rollback," he said.
Zagano said her mission was clear. She says the pope himself told her when she saw him again in Santa Marta about two years ago.
"I asked him if he wanted me to stop and he said, no, that I must continue my work," she said.
'Just disappointing and ... sad' The proportion of drivers who refused to take a test after being pulled over by trained officers doubled over five years. NewsdayTV's Virginia Huie reports.
'Just disappointing and ... sad' The proportion of drivers who refused to take a test after being pulled over by trained officers doubled over five years. NewsdayTV's Virginia Huie reports.
