In a move of historic importance, Pope Francis has said he wants to study the possibility of ordaining women as deacons -- a step that could for the first time open the ranks of the Catholic Church's all-male clergy to women -- the Religion News website reports today (May 13, 2016).
The order of deacons was reinstituted in the Catholic Church after the reforms of the 1960s.
In restoring the diaconate, the church also restricted ordination as a deacon to "mature married men" over 35.
Many protested that limitation, saying the earliest Christian texts also speak of "deaconesses" and arguing that the modern church should also allow women deacons.
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