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World News

Pope to explore possibility of ordaining female deacons

Catholic news sources say the Pontiff has unveiled a new commission to assess the possibility of bring the institution's all-male clergy practise to an end.

Speaking before nuns and sisters in a meeting of the International Union of Superiors General (IUSG) at the Vatican on Thursday, he recalled a previous conversation where he admitted being unsure of the role of deaconess's during the early centuries of the church.

Quoted in the National Catholic Reporter, the pontiff asked: "Constituting an official commission that might study the question? I believe yes.

"It would do good for the church to clarify this point. I am in agreement. I will speak to do something like this.

He later added: "I accept, it seems useful to me to have a commission that would clarify this well."

Permanent deacons have typically been married men, older than 35 and they are ordained, like priests, but they are more limited in the services they can perform.

Pope John Paul II made his position on ordaining women as priests clear in his 1994 Ordinatio Sacerdotalis letter when he said the Church has no authority to allow women priests.

Thursday's IUSG gathering at the Vatican also saw nuns and sisters ask the pope about how to boost the integration of women into the worldwide church.

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