Will Pope Leo XIV allow women to become deacons in the Roman Catholic Church?

A new pope is bringing new hope to some that the Roman Catholic Church could take a major step toward giving women more equality with men by allowing them to perform some of the same functions as priests.

The election on May 8 of Pope Leo XIV, the first American pope, is encouraging one Long Island expert on women deacons who believes the time has come to bring back the practice.

"I think if the church needs women ordained to the diaconate, the people of God will not be denied that need," said Phyllis Zagano, a Hofstra University researcher and an expert on women deacons who was appointed by Pope Francis to a commission to study the issue.

Zagano doesn’t know what Leo will decide, but hopes after multiple church studies on the topic dating to 1973, he will make a "definitive" decision, she said.

Some bishops in Latin America and Australia are asking for the ordination of women deacons, she said, while some in the United States have noted there is no doctrinal barrier to making the move.

"I don’t think he is going to be precipitous, but I also don’t think that he will continue to string the church along," Zagano said of Leo. "I hope he will do something definitive" and bring back women deacons.

Not everyone thinks that will happen any time soon. Leo is positioning himself as a unifying pope — and women deacons is a hot-button issue, experts said.

Deacons in the church are permitted to preach homilies at Mass, officiate at marriages and perform baptisms. Unlike priests, they cannot celebrate Mass, hear confession or administer last rites. Deacons can marry while priests cannot.

St. Phoebe a deacon?

On Sept. 3, the feast day for St. Phoebe, Zagano gave her first public address on Long Island on the topic in years. Phoebe is the only person in Scripture identified as a deacon, Zagano said. Phoebe lived in the first century.

Men and women served as deacons in the Catholic Church up until the 12th century, Zagano said. After that the diaconate was used only for men as a step on the way to priesthood. Following the 1960s Vatican II reforms, it was restored to its original use, but for men only.

Zagano's talk was among about three dozen events held last week in schools, parishes, retreat centers and other locations around the country to honor St. Phoebe, according to Discerning Deacons, a North Carolina-based group pushing for the restoration of women deacons. At a "Preaching Slam" in Miami, four women preached, including one who related Phoebe to modern-day issues such as immigration, violence and the need for courage and resilience.

A total of 125 events will take place throughout September, mainly in the United States, Discerning Deacons said.

At the Sisters of St. Joseph campus in Brentwood, Zagano addressed about 50 people in-person and 100 more who tuned in from around the world, including from Australia, Tokyo and Canad

She told them Paul tasked Phoebe with carrying his Letter to the Romans to Rome, and scholars assume she also explained it to them.

In Scripture "she is mentioned in a lot of ordination ceremonies for women" deacons, Zagano said. "It is argued that she is the prototype for women deacons."

"She is known in the West," Zagano added. "She is more honored and more known in the East, and in fact so is the history of women in the deaconate."

Zagano found a receptive audience for her argument to bring back women deacons, including among some men.

"This is very timely because it’s the first American pope, and one of his challenges is going to be integrating the 50% of the world population that is not men," said Michael Herman, a Catholic from Baldwin.

His wife, Mary Herman, noted that two of their daughters-in-law have Ph.D’s in theology, yet are ineligible to preach at Mass.

"They don't have the opportunities within the church, so it's very frustrating," Herman said. "Everywhere else in the world, they're welcome. Their gifts are welcome."

"Why wouldn't you let them participate" in more aspects of the Catholic Church? she said.

What will pope do?

Experts said it was hard to know what Leo would do, and it would be a tricky decision since he appears to want to be a "unifying" pontiff after Francis’ charismatic but controversial papacy. A decision one way or the other would inevitably anger some Catholics, said the Rev. Thomas Reese, a senior analyst for Religion News Service and a Vatican expert.

"Whether this is a bridge too far for him at a time when he's trying to be a unifying pope" is the question, Reese said. "No matter what he does, some people in the church will be upset. "

John Thavis, a longtime Vatican observer and the author of "The Vatican Diaries," said, "I doubt very much if Pope Leo is going to make women deacons a priority."

"I think in the eyes of most people at the Vatican, they feel that more time is needed before this can be settled in a way that doesn't cause division," he said. "Pope Leo is really attempting to be a unifier, and I think he's staying away from any issues that he thinks could be divisive in the church."

Women deacons may be accepted by most Catholics in the United States, Reese said, but that’s not the case in other parts of the world.

Leo’s approach may be the same as Francis’ — delay, Reese and Thavis said.

In 2016, Zagano was appointed to a commission by Francis to study the issue. In 2020, he appointed another commission to study the same thing. He never issued a definitive decision on the subject. Reese believes Francis in the end did not want to bring back women deacons.

"Francis just kept postponing it ... which is the way of handling things you don't want to handle," Reese said. "I wouldn't be at all surprised if Leo did that again."

Still, Reese believes Leo is "going to be very good on women involvement in the church."

When he was still Cardinal Robert Prevost and headed the Vatican office that assisted the pope in selecting bishops around the world, he helped persuade Francis to name a woman to the committee for the first time.

"That's a big deal ... to have a woman's voice there in the appointment of bishops," Reese said.

Despite the uncertainty, Zagano sees signs of hope that women deacons will become a reality.

Women deacons in document

A document issued last October at the end of one phase of a worldwide, multiyear "synod" Francis convened to elicit input on the church’s future included references to women deacons.

At the talk in Brentwood a table had copies of the document’s paragraph 60, which states: "There is no reason or impediment that should prevent women from carrying out leadership roles in the Church: what comes from the Holy Spirit cannot be denied."

Women deacons is a question that "remains open. This discernment needs to continue."

Sister Joan Gallagher, who attended the event, said the number of priests is declining, "and yet you have very competent, prayerful, spiritual, intelligent women who could step up and take leadership."

With the new pope hopefully "there’s still time to move past some more barriers so that women do have a full and equal participation in the church," she said. "Otherwise we’re only getting half the perspective, half the mindset."

"I am cautiously optimistic," she said. "I think it is time to move the church into the 21st century."