Swiss Auxiliary Bishop Marian Eleganti has criticised the Vatican study commission that has examined the impossibility of a female diaconate.
In a post on his personal blog on 8 December, he argued that it was difficult to understand why the commission was unable to reach a definitive conclusion.
According to Eleganti, "it is all too obvious that, despite the historical evidence, the goal is to keep the pot simmering — to keep the question open."
He notes that church feminists already wear "fantasy stoles".
He recalls that previous study commissions have repeatedly re-examined the historical record, only to arrive at the same results that have been known for decades. "Is it tragedy or comedy?" he asks. The bishop adds that the ancient deaconesses "were different from the deacons of their time and were shaped by cultural circumstances".
Contradicting Sister Linda Pocher, who is presented publicly as a papal advisor, Eleganti insists that the Church's rejection of a sacramental female diaconate is not culturally conditioned, but rather an infallible and timeless teaching.
While the current study commission acknowledges that history provides no grounds for establishing a sacramental female diaconate, it nonetheless declares that the matter must be clarified by the Magisterium.
Eleganti criticises this deliberate manoeuvre: "The unteachable remain unteachable despite magisterial decisions. Why, then, did the commission insert this twist into its conclusion despite the clear evidence? To ensure that we enter yet another round of debate under new pretexts."
The bishop is reminded of the German folktale about the hedgehog and the hare on the racetrack — a story in which trickery leads to a senseless contest and an exhausted hare. Eleganti asks: "Is the next goal a sui generis female diaconate — a deaconess without ordination, but with a liturgical blessing?"
In his conclusion, Monsignor Eleganti warns of an impending "sacramental dystopia".
"If, in practice, women and men, whether ordained or not, end up performing the same tasks — some by virtue of ordination and others through blessings and exemptions, such as baptism, preaching or leadership — then we have reached a dystopian distortion of the sacramental order.' Some will call this the overcoming of clericalism, while others will praise it as a new form of synodality or shared ministry. Both misunderstand what a sacrament is. In Switzerland, we have had this for a long time. Call it whatever you want."
#newsJsdhfoswcg