(...)In August of 2016, a statement was released by the Central Committee of German Catholics (Zentralrat der Deutschen Katholiken – ZDK) — the largest lay organization in that country — advocating a relaxation of the rules of priestly celibacy in response to Germany’s devastating vocational crisis. In the statement from ZDK, there was another theme – a proposal to further discuss the idea of female deacons.
The issue of relaxing priestly celibacy came up again in September 2016, in separate reports from Vaticanistas Marco Tosatti and Sandro Magister. And while the question of female deacons was not specifically addressed in these reports, the not uncommon intermingling of calls for the relaxation of priestly celibacy and a move toward the female diaconate, as seen in the ZDK statement above, should be remembered when evaluating such proposals. At the time, Magister spoke of a possible forthcoming “Amazon synod” that would address certain issues that might therefore also invite conversation on the female diaconate:
There is renewed vigor behind the rumor that Jorge Mario Bergoglio wants to assign to the next worldwide synod of bishops, scheduled for 2018, precisely the question of ordained ministers, bishops, priests, deacons, including the ordination of married men.
In December 2016, noted liberation theologian Leonardo Boff gave an interview to the German newspaper Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger. In her translation of that interview, Maike Hickson reported a noteworthy observation by Boff which echoed Magister’s prediction:
[Boff]: …Only recently, Cardinal Walter Kasper, a close confidant of the pope, told me that soon there will be some great surprises.Q: What do you expect?Who knows? Perhaps a diaconate for women, after all. Or the possibility that married priests may be again engaged in pastoral care. That is an explicit request from the Brazilian bishops to the pope, especially from his friend, the retired Brazilian Curial Cardinal Claudio Hummes. I have heard that the pope wants to meet this request – for now and for a certain experimental period in Brazil. [emphasis added]
What was only rumor at the time of Magister’s report and Boff’s interview has since been at least partially confirmed as fact. We now know that the next synod will take place in 2018, and that the topic will be “Youth, faith and vocational discernment”. In the synod’s preparatory document, released in January 2017, there is nothing specifically addressing priestly celibacy or the female diaconate, but there is language that could easily establish the groundwork for such innovations:
Accompanying young people requires going beyond a preconceived framework, encountering young people where they are, adapting to their times and pace of life and taking them seriously. This is to be done as young people seek to make sense of the reality in which they live and to utilize the message which they have received in words and deeds in their daily attempts to create a personal history and in the more-or-less conscious search for meaning in their lives.[…]Precisely because the proposed message involves the freedom of young people, every community needs to give importance to creative ways of addressing young people in a personal way and supporting personal development. In many cases, the task involves learning to allow for something new and not stifling what is new by attempting to apply a preconceived framework. No seed for vocations can be fruitful if approached with a closed and “complacent pastoral attitude that says: ‘We have always done it this way’” and without people being “bold and creative in this task of rethinking the goals, structures, style and methods of evangelization in their respective communities” (Evangelii gaudium, 33). [emphasis added]
In February 2017, Magister again noted a more significant development in the push toward a female diaconate — one which comes by way of revisiting the question of women’s ordination to the priesthood:
On August 2, 2016, Pope Francis instituted a commission to study the history of the female diaconate, for the purpose of its possible restoration. And some have seen this as a first step toward priesthood for women, in spite of the fact that Francis himself seems to have ruled it out absolutely, responding as follows to a question on the return flight from his journey to Sweden last November 1 (in the photo, his embrace with Swedish Lutheran archbishop Antje Jackelen):“For the ordination of women in the Catholic Church, the last clear word was given by Saint John Paul II, and this holds.”But to read the latest issue of “La Civiltà Cattolica,” the question of women priests appears to be anything but closed. On the contrary, wide open.“La Civiltà Cattolica” is not just any magazine. By statute, every line of it is printed after inspection by the Holy See. But in addition there is the very close confidential relationship between Jorge Mario Bergoglio and the magazine’s editor, the Jesuit Antonio Spadaro.Who in turn has his most trusted colleague in deputy editor Giancarlo Pani, he too a Jesuit like all the writers of the magazine.So then, in the article with his byline that appears in the latest issue of “La Civiltà Cattolica,” Fr. Pani calmly rips to shreds the “last clear word” – meaning the flat no – that John Paul II spoke against women’s priesthood.To see how, all it takes is to reread this passage of the article, properly speaking dedicated to the question of women deacons, but taking the cue from there to express hopes for women priests as well.
Specifically, Fr. Pani asserts:
The historical fact of the exclusion of woman from the priesthood because of the “impedimentum sexus” is undeniable. Nevertheless, already in 1948, and therefore well ahead of the disputes of the 1960’s, Fr. Congar pointed out that “the absence of a fact is not a decisive criterion for concluding prudently in every case that the Church cannot do it and will never do it.”Moreover, another theologian adds, the “consensus fidelium” of many centuries has been called into question in the 20th century above all on account of the profound sociocultural changes concerning woman. It would not make sense to maintain that the Church must change only because the times have changed, but it remains true that a doctrine proposed by the Church needs to be understood by the believing intelligence. The dispute over women priests could be set in parallel with other moments of Church history; in any case, today in the question of female priesthood the “auctoritates,” or official positions of the magisterium, are clear, but many Catholics have a hard time understanding the “rationes” of decisions that, more than expressions of authority, appear to signify authoritarianism. Today there is unease among those who fail to understand how the exclusion of woman from the Church’s ministry can coexist with the affirmation and appreciation of her equal dignity.”
Magister sums up:
In the judgment of “La Civiltà Cattolica,” therefore, not only should the infallibility and definitiveness of John Paul II’s “no” to women priests be brought into doubt, but more important than this “no” are the “developments that the presence of woman in the family and society has undergone in the 21st century.”
And then, in language very much reminiscent of the above-cited preparatory document for the 2018 synod, Magister exposes Pani’s conclusion:
“One cannot always resort to the past, as if only in the past are there indications of the Spirit. Today as well the Spirit is guiding the Church and suggesting the courageous assumption of new perspectives.”And Francis is the first “not to limit himself to what is already known, but wants to delve into a complex and relevant field, so that it may be the Spirit who guides the Church,” concludes “La Civiltà Cattolica,” evidently with the pope’s imprimatur. [emphasis added]
This push from La Civiltà Cattolica, a periodical that is reportedly reviewed by the Vatican Secretariat of State before publication, can hardly be seen as merely speculative. As Canadian priest and Convivium editor Fr. Raymond de Souza wrote in 2015, La Civiltà Cattolica editor Father Antonio Spadaro is “both a close confidant and mouthpiece of Pope Francis. It is inconceivable that he would write something contrary to what the Holy Father desired.” What is likely happening in Father Pani’s piece, therefore, is likely the setting up the thesis and antithesis in one of Francis’ favorite approaches to injecting controversial issues into the heart of the Church: the Hegelian dialectic. If John Paul II’s “final word” in Ordinatio Sacerdotalis is the thesis; Pani’s promotion of a female priesthood the antithesis.
And the synthesis?
This has now, it seems, been presented to us by Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi, President of the Pontifical Council for Culture. In a February 24, 2017 interview with the official online publication of the German bishops, katholisch.de, Ravasi pushes the issue of the female diaconate further into the Catholic consciousness. Asked what possibilities he sees for women in the Catholic Church, Ravasi responded:
A diaconate for women would be possible, I think. But of course, it must be discussed, the historical tradition is very complex. In general, I think it is clerical to constantly focus on women’s priesthood. Why do we not start talking about other, very important functions of women in the Church? For example, the leading of a parish, from a structural point of view. Or the area of catechesis, volunteering, finance, architectural planning, design. Why should that not be in the hands of women? Also in Vatican institutions, there could be a stronger presence of women, at higher levels. This is what the Pope also said. Of course, this does not happen immediately.*
The interviewer noted that Ravasi has implemented a first — a female only advisory body for his Pontifical Council for Culture. Ravasi responded with some background on these 35 women – noting that there are among their number Muslims, a Jew, and “non-believers”. He goes on to say that he hopes what he has done will be a model for other Pontifical Councils. When asked why the only pontifical commission with female advisers is Ravasi’s own, he dismissed the insinuation that it is because culture doesn’t play a significant role in the Vatican. He also warned against a danger of women in such roles as being seen as merely filling a “quota”. He then went on to say:
Of course, I also take a risk here. If one of the female counselors, for example, would say that she is in favor of the female priesthood — and in my opinion it would be legitimate to express her opinion — most probably afterwards, there would be the headline: Cardinal Ravasi has proposed the female priesthood. This ambiguity in the field of communication and in the media is currently a very big problem.
It appears here that Ravasi thinks women in positions of influence at the Vatican advancing the idea of a female priesthood are perfectly acceptable. As for the communication problem he says such a statement would represent — namely, that he would be associated with any such position put forward by one of his advisers — it appears to be a problem that nobody in the Vatican is very keen to solve. After all, such a statement attributed to a cardinal of stature like Ravasi is just the kind of thing that helps keep the issue of the female diaconate moving forward. And too much work has already gone into that cause for it to be merely a trivial piece of the papal agenda.
* Translation by Maike Hickson. This post has been updated.