(The Pillar. Luke Coppen).
The deadline passed this week for the world’s bishops’ conferences to submit feedback ahead of this October’s session of the synod on synodality.
A handful of territories have posted their reports online, including Australia, Austria, Luxembourg, and Switzerland.
There’s a striking convergence in those four reports: they all suggest there is significant support for the admission of women to the diaconate among Catholics in their countries.
Why are the reports addressing the topic of women deacons in the first place? What exactly are they saying? And how significant are they likely to be?
Why do the feedback reports address women deacons?
After the synod on synodality’s first session in Rome in October 2023, the General Secretariat of the Synod — the Vatican body overseeing the global synodal process — asked local Churches to offer feedback.