Women deacons

Vatican City -- The president of Pope Francis’ commission to study the history of women deacons in the Catholic Church says his group is not planning to advise the pontiff on whether to reinstitute the practice of ordaining women as deacons.

NCR Today: Patriarch Theodoros II and the Holy Synod of the Patriarchate of Alexandria have decided to reinstate the order of deaconesses in the Greek Orthodox Church. It's welcome news, though it is short of any goal favored by feminists, whether Orthodox or Catholic.

Theologians from the U.S. and Greece voiced support for the decision of Patriarch Theodoros II and the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Alexandria to restore the female diaconate.

The priests believe that introducing male deacons at this time would add "another male clerical layer to ministry" which was "insensitive, disrespectful of women and counter-productive at this present critical time."