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I filed my column just after it came out; I cannot claim to have deeply studied the papal document, Querida Amazonia. Given more time, I’d hesitate to study it any deeper. Like many Catholics, who at least aspire to be “faithful” and “traditional,” I simply rejoice in what it doesn’t say. It doesn’t, in itself, advance such campaigns as those for the marriage of priests, or the ordination of women. It does recommend the appalling Amazon Synod Final Report, rather than ignore it, or better, refute it. This is the “footnote” tactic, tried by Bergoglio before. But now it can...

[Catholic Caucus] Women Deacons: A Papal Cover-up? In prior columns I have referred to Pope Francis’ commission on “female deacons” as semi-secret.  That is because, although we know of its existence, its findings have been kept under wraps.   It appears that now we know why.As LifeSiteNews reported back in March, an advocate of female deacons, the German progressivist theologian Professor Peter Hünermann, admitted that “according to members of the German bishops’ doctrinal commission who spoke to him, the report of the Vatican commission on female deacons found that ‘there is no historical evidence that in the patristics women were ordained as deacons.’”LifeSite...

[Catholic Caucus] Theologian claims Vatican commission on female deacons found no evidence they existed March 21, 2019 (LifeSiteNews) – Professor Peter Hünermann – a well-connected and prominent German theologian – has told LifeSiteNews that, according to members of the German bishops' doctrinal commission who spoke to him, the report of the Vatican commission on female deacons found that “there is no historical evidence that in the patristics women were ordained as deacons.”  In a recent interview in Germany, Professor Hünermann spoke about this Vatican commission on the history of female deacons that had been established, in 2016, by Pope...

WASHINGTON — Fifty-seven Orthodox Christian clergymen and lay leaders, including the heads of two leading Orthodox seminaries in the U.S., have issued a public statement calling on church leaders to defend Orthodox teaching on the creation and calling of man as male and female by opposing the appointment of deaconesses in the Orthodox Church. The statement comes in response to a public statement issued in October by nine Orthodox liturgical scholars in the U.S. and Greece, expressing support for the Patriarchate of Alexandria’s November 2016 decision to “restore” the ancient order of deaconesses and its February 2017 appointment of deaconesses...

As you may remember, some months ago Pope Francis saw to the creation of a group to study the question of female deacons (aka deaconesses, aka deaconettes). Last November, when the group met for the first time, I wrote: “Their slow march to the vanishing point has begun.” Perhaps that march won’t be so slow after all. I saw an interesting story at the German language site Kathnet. Gerhard Ludwig Card. Müller, Prefect of the CDF, isn’t encouraging the proponents of the ordination of women. Kardinal Müller, Präfekt der Glaubenskongregation, im Interview mit der „Rheinischen Post“: Bischofs-, Priester- und Diakonenweihe...

First, today I saw a piece at Breitbart that Pope Francis popularity has dropped.  HEREThat said, I have received links to various articles saying that the Pope has considered establishing a commission to study the issue of the ordination of woman as deaconesses…. (aka deaconettes -it’s easier to pronounce).Studying is one thing and doing is another.That said, I saw something telling in the Fishwrap account (aka National Schismatic Reporter). The pope responded that he had spoken about the matter once some years ago with a “good, wise professor” who had studied the use of female deacons in the early centuries of...