--- title: Pope Francis Creates Commission on Female Deacons description: The Vatican is exploring options for more female leadership in the Church. It's about time. canonical: https://time.com/4439159/pope-francis-female-deacons-catholic-church/ author: Christopher Hale article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-08-04T17:26:19.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T09:03:04.595Z og:title: Pope Francis Opens the Door for Future Female Deacons og:description: It’s about time og:url: https://time.com/4439159/pope-francis-female-deacons-catholic-church/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte2d37f4769f6a8fa/6988a124196cf441b503cbcb/pope-francis-women-in-church.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1024 og:image:height: 576 og:image:alt: Pope Francis—Commission on Female Deans og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Pope Francis Opens the Door for Future Female Deacons twitter:description: It’s about time twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte2d37f4769f6a8fa/6988a124196cf441b503cbcb/pope-francis-women-in-church.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Pope Francis Opens the Door for Future Female Deacons > Sponsored content. 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Worth Your Time is TIME's culture newsletter, published Tuesdays and Saturdays to 40,000 subscribers as of August 2026. #### Who writes TIME's culture recommendations? Culture editor Eliza Berman writes Worth Your Time, drawing on TIME's critics and culture desk. #### Is Worth Your Time free? Yes. It is a free newsletter available at time.com/newsletters. by [Christopher Hale](https://time.com/author/christopher-j-hale-2/) ## Christopher Hale Aug 4, 2016 5:26 PM UTC  Pope Francis greets the faithful as he arrives to celebrate his Weekly General Audience in St. Peter's Square in Vatican City, Vatican. Pope Francis greets the faithful as he arrives to celebrate his Weekly General Audience in St. Peter's Square in Vatican City, Vatican.Giuseppe Ciccia—Pacific Press—LightRocket/Getty Images by [Christopher Hale](https://time.com/author/christopher-j-hale-2/) ## Christopher Hale Aug 4, 2016 5:26 PM UTC Will [Pope Francis](http://time.com/4432241/pope-francis-humanity-poland-world-youth-day/) and the Catholic Church soon allow [women to be deacons](http://time.com/4328523/pope-francis-female-deacons-commission/)? Pope Francis has created a commission to study the role of female deacons in the Church, the [Vatican announced](http://www.cnn.com/2016/08/02/world/pope-francis-female-deacons/) this week. Dr. Phyllis Zagano, the world’s preeminent scholar on women in the diaconate and the lone American woman on the new committee, told me that she doesn’t yet know the specific mandate of the committee. But many have speculated that Francis will ask the committee to study whether or not the Church should allow women to participate in the modern-day diaconate. Though some have considered the question out of bounds and a slippery slope to ordaining women as priests, Zagano notes that this committee is well within the wishes of both Popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI. Zagano recalled that in 2002, the International Theological Commission, under the authority of John Paul II, essentially “kicked the can down the road” on whether or not there could be women deacons in the Catholic Church. The concluding document noted that the “question pertains to the ministry of discernment which the Lord established in his Church to pronounce authoritatively on this question.” Seven years later, Benedict XVI made important theological distinctions between the priesthood and diaconate that clarified and codified that deacons aren’t “mini-priests.” Deacons’ role and function are different in kind from that of priests and bishops. Though Zagano said she doesn’t know where the road will lead on this conversation, she does hope important questions are resolved. “I think it’s important that we pick up where others have left off and answer Pope Francis’s call to give more definitive answers on the history of women in the diaconate and possibilities for the future,” she said. If Francis’s first three years are Bishop of Rome are any indication, Zagano’s hopes might very well be answered. _Christopher J. Hale is executive director at_ [_Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good_](http://www.catholicsinalliance.org/) _and the co-founder of_ [_Millennial_](https://millennialjournal.com/)_._ ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4439159/pope-francis-female-deacons-catholic-church/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4439159/pope-francis-female-deacons-catholic-church/"},"headline":"Pope Francis Opens the Door for Future Female Deacons","datePublished":"2016-08-04T17:26:19.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T09:03:04.595Z","description":"It’s about time","url":"https://time.com/4439159/pope-francis-female-deacons-catholic-church/","keywords":["motto"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte2d37f4769f6a8fa/6988a124196cf441b503cbcb/pope-francis-women-in-church.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Christopher Hale","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/christopher-j-hale-2/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte2d37f4769f6a8fa/6988a124196cf441b503cbcb/pope-francis-women-in-church.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Pope Francis—Commission on Female Deans","caption":"Pope Francis female deans women in catholic church","creditText":"Giuseppe Ciccia—Pacific Press—LightRocket/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/motto/","name":"motto"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4439159/pope-francis-female-deacons-catholic-church/","name":"Pope Francis Opens the Door for Future Female Deacons"}}]}] ```