‘Holy Orders is Reserved for Men’, Pope Francis

Hannah Brockhaus By Hannah Brockhaus Vatican, 2023-10-25 Pope Francis reaffirmed the impossibility of women becoming priests, or even modern Church deacons, in an interview for a book released Tuesday in Italy. The question of whether some women in the early Church were “deaconesses” or another kind of collaborator with the bishops is “not irrelevant, because holy orders is reserved for men,” the pope said. The pope’s answers to questions about women’s roles in the Church were included in a book published in June in Spanish as “El Pastor: Desafíos, razones y reflexiones sobre su pontificado.” The book, whose title means in English “The Shepherd: Struggles, Reasons, and Thoughts on His Papacy,” was released in Italian on Oct. 24. The Italian edition is titled “Non Sei Solo: Sfide, Risposte, Speranze," or "You Are Not Alone: Challenges, Answers, Hopes." About the possibility of women deacons, Francis pointed out that the diaconate “is the first degree of holy orders in th