Pope Francis creates commission to study history of female deacons

The commission was first promised by the Pope after a meeting with a group of nuns on May 12. He said the Vatican should study the question of ordaining women as deacons, answering a call that women, particularly in the United States, have been asking the church to address for decades.

“Pope Francis expressed his intention to establish an official commission that could study the question” of the diaconate of women, “especially with regard to the first ages of the Church,” the Vatican’s statement said.