Pope Francis to consider allowing women to become deacons

Pope Francis has said that he would appoint an official commission to study whether women could be ordained deacons.

Speaking to an audience of nuns, Pope Franics questioned what the role of female deacons in the early centuries of the church had been, the Guardian reports.

The church maintains a prohibition on women serving as clergy, but although the possibility of female priests has been ruled out, deacons can perform many functions performed by priests, including saying mass, celebrating weddings, and baptising children. They are barred from giving communion or taking confessions.

The role of deacon was reinstated in the 1960s but it was restircted to “mature married men” over the age of 35.

The Guardian reports that although Francis has said that the “door is closed” to the possibility of women becoming priests – the Catholic church teaches that women cannot become priests because Jesus willingly chose only men as his apostles – he has also advocated expanding the role women within the church.

Pope Francis also told the audience of nuns that the church needed to treat them with more respect.