The ordination of female deacons is no longer on the agenda during a global assembly at the Vatican, but will be discussed separately.
Pope Francis had the grandest of ambitions: to tackle some of the thorniest questions facing the Roman Catholic Church.
But when bishops and lay people convene Wednesday at the Vatican to talk about its future, one of the most contentious — whether women can be ordained as deacons — has already been taken off the agenda.
The decision, which came after four years of global consultations, has angered — but hasn’t discouraged — Catholics in some parts of the world.
“You can’t erase us, you can’t dismiss this,” said Miriam Duignan, a leader of Women’s Ordination Worldwide, one of several groups supporting female deacons that will be staging various events in Rome during the gathering. “You can’t deny the reality of what Catholics have asked for or dismiss a justice issue because some people objected to it.”
For many Catholics who are demanding a more egalitarian church, the synod — as meetings of bishops are known — was seen as an opening to address major issues considered taboo until recently, including the question of female deacons, the requirement that priests be celibate and the place of L.G.B.T.Q. people in the church. Expectations were heightened when, in a historic first, Francis had allowed 54 women to participate as voting members of the 368-member assembly, which mostly comprises bishops.
Deacons are ordained ministers who can preach and perform weddings, funerals and baptisms. But they can’t celebrate Mass, a role reserved for the all-male priesthood.
