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 ROME — Pope Francis said Thursday that he would set up a commission to study whether women could serve as deacons in the Roman Catholic Church, a move hailed by women who have campaigned for years for a more prominent role in the church. 
 
 His remarks reveal an openness to re-examining the church’s long-held insistence on an all-male clergy. Yet the idea will face stiff resistance from those who believe that it is the first step toward ordaining female priests, something that recent popes have ruled out, citing church doctrine. 
 
 The pope’s comments were made during an assembly of leaders of women’s religious orders and were consistent with his style: a seemingly off-the-cuff remark that opened a broad horizon of possibilities. 
 
 It came during a question-and-answer session in which he assured the nearly 900 sisters in the room that he wanted to “increase the number of women in decision-making positions in the church.” 
 
 One woman asked about the possibility of an official commission to study the issue. His response was, in essence, “Why not?” 
 
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 “Constituting an official commission that might study the question?” Francis mused, according to The National Catholic Reporter. “I believe yes. It would do good for the church to clarify this point. I am in agreement.” 
 
 “I accept,” the pope said later. “It seems useful to me to have a commission that would clarify this well.” 
 
 The comments may prove to be more of a change in tone than a change in church practice, similar to his remark “Who am I to judge?” made in response to a question about gays during a midflight news conference in 2013. 
 
 Deacons are ordained ministers in the Catholic Church, and in many parishes they handle many of the same tasks that priests do. They are permitted to preach at Mass, perform baptisms, witness marriages and conduct funeral services. Deacons currently must be men over the age of 35, and they may be married (though if a deacon’s wife dies, he is expected to remain celibate). 
 
 Facing a shortage of priests, the church in the United States has for decades been actively encouraging men to become deacons to fill the gaps. The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops says there are now more than 13,000 men serving in what is called the “permanent diaconate.” 
 
 Creating a Vatican commission is no guarantee of change. Such commissions can take years to reach conclusions and are only advisory. Pope Paul VI rejected the majority report of a Vatican commission in 1966 that, after three years of study, essentially recommended that the church lift its ban on artificial birth control. 
 
 It is far from clear that Francis favors female deacons or that a commission he appointed would even recommend this change. 
 
 Some Catholic women cite research showing that women served as deacons in the church’s early history. But the pope asked some skeptical questions at the assembly about whether the responsibilities of deaconesses in the early church were more circumscribed than those of male deacons. 
 
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 Francis said his first step would be to consult with the church’s doctrinal office “to tell me if there are studies on this.” The doctrinal office is led by Cardinal Gerhard Ludwig Müller, a German theologian who has long maintained that ordaining women in any capacity is impermissible. 
 
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 Lucetta Scaraffia, the co-editor of a monthly magazine on women and the church distributed with the Vatican newspaper, L’Osservatore Romano, said that although the pope’s words were encouraging, they did not necessarily reflect the views of most bishops. 
 
 “I doubt much will come of it,” Ms. Scaraffia said. “I think the pope would like to open discussion, but there is strong resistance” to any ordination of women. 
 
 Still, news of Francis’ remark delivered a jolt of excitement to Catholics who have questioned church doctrine that women cannot be ordained because the disciples of Jesus were all male. 
 
 “I’m ecstatic,” said Sister Christine Schenck, who served for years as executive director of FutureChurch, an organization based in Cleveland that advocates greater roles for laypeople and women in the church. “I was just in prayer thanking God.” 
 
 She said about 30,000 women already served in American parishes as “lay ecclesial ministers,” taking on many pastoral and administrative functions. Many of them have advanced degrees in theology and ministry. They are not, however, allowed to deliver the homily at Mass, and some are unsung and invisible in their parishes. 
 
 “The vast majority of all these lay ministers in the United States could be ordained deacons tomorrow. They’ve met all the qualifications,” Sister Schenck said. “Being ordained as deacons would allow them to preach at Sunday Mass. It also would validate their ministry.” 
 
 The Women’s Ordination Conference, an American organization that supports the idea of female deacons, priests and bishops, said in a statement, “Opening a commission to study the diaconate for women would be a great step for the Vatican in recognizing its own history.” 
 
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 That history, though, is a matter of some debate. Some scholars say there is biblical evidence that women served as deacons alongside men, but others say the women’s functions were more limited. 
 
 In 1995, an American group of canon law experts said that ordaining women as deacons in the church would be in keeping with Catholic theology and past practice, though the Vatican never acted on that recommendation. The International Theological Commission, an advisory body to the Vatican’s doctrinal office, considered female deacons in 2002, but it reached rather muddy conclusions. 
 
 Phyllis Zagano, an advocate of women’s ordination and editor of the book “Women Deacons? Essays With Answers,” said that until about the 12th century, women were ordained as deacons and considered clergy, but their roles varied among countries and dioceses. 
 
 “The real problem is that they can’t figure out why a woman can be ordained a deacon but not a priest,” Ms. Zagano said. 
 
 Francis has been urged to give women a greater role in the church, where few women hold top positions in the Curia, the Vatican’s administrative arm. He has repeatedly acknowledged this shortcoming, but so far, he has not really addressed it. 
 
 At the session with the female superiors general on Thursday, Francis admitted that the integration of women into the life of the church had been “very weak” and said, “We must go forward.” ||||| Editor's note: This story was updated May 13, 2016, at 12:10 p.m. CT to include additional reactions. 
 
 Pope Francis' announcement Thursday to create a commission to examine the history of female deacons in the Catholic church has left many longtime advocates with a sense of hope, joy and drive moving forward in their efforts to enhance female leadership in the church. 
 
 "I am standing on my head, I am happy, I am crying," Deborah Rose-Milavec, executive director of FutureChurch, told NCR in a phone interview Thursday morning. "It is just a historic breakthrough of enormous proportion and the implications are far-reaching, as far as what women will be able to take on in the church." 
 
 Rose-Milavec said while the pope is likely to run into opposition from members of the Roman Curia and some theologian and scripture scholars, she does not believe it will deter him. "I don't have any doubts about it. ... No concerns," she said of the opposition. "The UISG spoke very directly about this to him, and I think when he makes a promise to them in that way, it's not going to go away." 
 
 Canadian Archbishop Paul-André Durocher, who mentioned the subject during his three-minute intervention at the Synod of Bishops on the family in October, said he was surprised by the news. 
 
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 "Since the synod members themselves and the pope in his letter didn't refer to the role of women in the church very clearly, I was hoping it was a seed planted in the ground and praying it would bear fruit at one point, but I didn't know if it would," he said. 
 
 Durocher said a number of bishops he spoke with at the synod were favorable of studying the idea. 
 
 "I'm happy that the pope is seeing it's appropriate to move this way to study this issue more completely," Durocher said. "I certainly believe it needs to be studied in the church and I look forward to seeing how he will set up this commission and how it will be described and who's part of it and the fruit of its work." 
 
 Phyllis Zagano, an internationally acclaimed Catholic scholar and lecturer on contemporary spirituality and women's issues in the church, said the movement of the Spirit -- between the Ascension and Pentecost -- is bringing the issue to the surface. 
 
 "It's very hopeful," she told NCR. "It displays Francis' openness to scholarship, to history and, most importantly, to the needs of the church." 
 
 Kathleen Sprows Cummings, director of the Cushwa Center for the Study of American Catholicism at the University of Notre Dame since 2012, said whether women become deacons is not the most important issue, but rather that the conversation came from a meeting with women. 
 
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 "The church talks an awful lot about women, but it doesn't talk a lot with women," she said. "They asked a question, and he gave an answer." 
 
 This is not the first time the issue has been studied, according to Zagano, who mentioned it was discussed between 1992 and 2002 -- but with no resolution. "The only thing that came about was an inconclusive document that said it's up to the ministry of the church to decide on this matter." The church is finding its way into the 21st century, she added. 
 
 History alone will not answer the question of whether the Catholic Church should ordain female deacons, according to historian Gary Macy. 
 
 “You have to be very careful when you look at history,” said Macy of the pope’s announcement. “They didn’t do anything in the past the same way as now. It’s just a different setup.” 
 
 Macy, professor of theology at Santa Clara University in California, said history proves that there were female deacons -- and in some places in the world -- they were ordained the same way as men. 
 
 “Other times [traditions] were different, but not so different that it would make [women] a minor order or anything like that,” he said. 
 
 If the church would eventually allow female deacons, said Macy, the vast majority of historical evidence reveals that women should be ordained the same way as men. 
 
 Natalie Terry, 27, director of the Ignatian Spiritual Life Center and children's faith formation at St. Agnes Catholic Church in San Francisco, said she has been waiting for the news since she was a teen. 
 
 "As someone who's found her call, I wasn't sure there would even be a day the pope would call a commission that would happen in my lifetime," she told NCR in a phone interview. 
 
 Terry, who wants to become a deacon, called the announcement an acknowledgement "that women have a vocation." "The fact that the pope and the structural church can acknowledge this is incredibly meaningful, and will mean a dynamic shift will happen in the church now because this commission has been called," she said. 
 
 No matter how the details play out, Terry said she believes the commission will create a space for dialogue that includes women. 
 
 Connie Walsh, 66, a nurse who felt called to the diaconate in her late 30s, said she was still digesting the news. "I feel like I've just jumped out of my socks," she told NCR. 
 
 "I know what it's like to be among women in leadership in the church," she said. "They have worked so long and they are so amazing and so tenacious, who could possibly say no? He [Francis] could have, but he didn't." 
 
 Walsh said while she is elated by the news, she is also mindful that big changes take time. 
 
 "Will it happen in my lifetime? I don't know that," she said. "I never thought I would get this kind of a phone call, ever in my lifetime." 
 
 Others, however, cautioned not to overinterpret the meaning of the announcement. 
 
 Cummings, for example, said she was "cautiously" excited by the news. She said the announcement has opened the door for discussion, "maybe a crack." 
 
 "Somehow equating this as an announcement that women will be ordained as deacons," is misconstruing the message, she said. "Lots of people have studied this question already. ... People are studying it all the time." 
 
 William Ditewig, a deacon of the Washington archdiocese and on the theology faculty at Santa Clara University said the public should keep a balanced perspective on the news. 
 
 "Certainly Francis wants to see an increased role for women, but does that involve ordination?" 
 
 Ditewig said it is not a question of women -- but a fundamental theology of the diaconate. This commission, he added, will serve to increase the development of the theology of the diaconate. 
 
 The International Theological Commission of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith discussed women deacons at a meeting in January 2002. The commission seemed to leave open the question of women deacons, saying that “in light of present historical-theological research,” there is a need for “discernment about what the Lord has established for the church.” 
 
 At that time, however, Gerhard Ludwig Müller, who is now a cardinal and prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, but was then a theologian at Munich University and a member of the commission, dismissed the restoration of women deacons. 
 
 “What women accomplish today as professors of religion, professors of theology, pastoral agents, and also in unremunerated activities in the communities goes far beyond what the deaconesses of the early Church did,” Muller told Zenit news agency in 2002. 
 
 “The re-establishment of the former ministry of the deaconesses would only be an amusing anachronism,” he said. 
 
 In the meantime, women deacon advocates will continue their work within the Catholic church. 
 
 FutureChurch will hold a female deacon retreat Sept. 14-16 in Cleveland, Ohio, for "women who are discerning or feel called," said Rose-Milavec. The conference will include sessions on the history of female deacons in the church and a handful of speakers including Zagano. 
 
 [Traci Badalucco and Elizabeth A. Elliott are NCR Bertelsen interns.] ||||| ROME—Pope Francis said the Vatican would study the possibility of ordaining Catholic women as deacons, as part of the church’s efforts to give a greater leadership role to women. 
 
 During a meeting Thursday with leaders of women’s religious orders, the pope—who has frequently lauded the role women play in the church—was asked why the role of permanent deacon was limited to men. The pontiff responded that the Vatican would investigate the possibility of admitting women to the role, without offering further details. 
 
 ... ||||| 
 
 Nuns sing as they wait for the arrival of Pope Francis during Holy Year activities in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican on April 24. (Andrew Medichini/AP) 
 
 Pope Francis on Thursday opened the door to the possibility of ordained female deacons for the first time in centuries, potentially signaling a historic shift for the role of women in the male-dominated ministry of the Roman Catholic Church. 
 
 The pope is on record as opposing female priests. But, in off-the-cuff comments to an international conference of nuns in Vatican City, he said he supports the creation of a commission to examine whether women should be “reinstated” as deacons. 
 
 He called for such a commission to review the history and scope of female deacons who served the church in ancient times. But while suggesting he would welcome a fresh debate, Francis stopped short of saying whether he would ultimately support the readmission of women as deacons, who are vested with a range of priest-like powers including baptism, officiating at weddings, distributing Holy Communion and preaching at Mass. 
 
 [Which other religions have female clergy?] 
 
 The pope’s comments came as part of a question-and-answer session during a gathering of the International Union of Superiors General, a 500,000-member global nuns group. 
 
 “What impedes the church from including women among permanent deacons, just as it happened in the early church?” the pope was asked, according to a transcript by the National Catholic Reporter. “Why not construct a commission to study the issue?” 
 
 The pope told the sisters that, to his knowledge, the women’s role in history “was a bit obscure.” It was not clear, he said, if they were “ordained” — or officially appointed. Creating a commission to study the question “would do good for the church to clarify this point. I am in agreement.” 
 
 [The Catholic Church puts one foot forward on the path to including women] 
 
 The pontiff’s remarks were received enthusiastically. The nuns group “is very happy for the welcoming conversation with the pope. It was very friendly, familiar. It was a real dialogue,” said spokeswoman Patrizia Morgante. 
 
 Almost immediately, Catholic experts from all points along the ideological spectrum began debating the significance of the comments. 
 
 “I can’t underscore enough how groundbreaking this is for the Church,” said Boston College theologian James Bretzke. “If women can be ordained as deacons, then this is going to weaken — not destroy — but weaken significantly the argument that women absolutely are incapable of being ordained as priests. So this is opening more than a crack in the door.” 
 
 Yet some liberal female theologians were quick to focus on the ambiguity of the pope’s words. A commission that primarily studied the historical role of women as deacons in centuries past, they warned, could yet mean a long road ahead before women could actually be ordained as deacons today. 
 
 “The issue of female deacons has already been studied in depth,” said Marinella Perroni, a Rome-based theologian. “I hope we don’t start from scratch now.” 
 
 [Inside the Catholic nursing home at the center of a contentious Supreme Court case] 
 
 And Susan Selner-Wright, a conservative philosophy professor at St. John Vianney Theological Seminary in Denver, said that liberals hoping that the pope’s commission would lead to the ordination of women as deacons or priests “will be disappointed.” 
 
 “That’s not up to the Church to change,” Selner-Wright said. “It’s up to Jesus. . . . If he had wanted to recruit women to be among the apostles, he would have done it. He just didn’t.” 
 
 However, she said that she could conceive of a revised role in which deacons, both male and female, dedicate themselves to service but are not ordained. “There would be really a seismic shift in the understanding of the diaconate and the understanding of deacons. And maybe that would be a good thing,” she said. 
 
 The pope’s comments came during a two-week period that saw women’s issues raised more than usual within the male-dominated walls of Vatican City. 
 
 One week ago, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican’s secretary of state and a close confidant of the pope, said that theoretically, there is no reason why a woman could not one day fill his job. 
 
 Parolin — often viewed as the most powerful figure in Vatican City after the pope — made that statement as the Vatican unveiled an overhaul of a section for women in its official newspaper, L’Osservatore Romano. 
 
 Francis has spoken out against gender inequality in other veins, for instance calling the pay gap between men and women who do the same job “pure scandal.” In an institution that has been occasionally uncomfortable in addressing the question of women’s role in the church head-on, he has also seemed to facilitate a broader debate. Last year, for example, the Vatican hosted a number of conferences focused on women, including one titled “Women’s Cultures: Equality and Difference.” 
 
 [Could Pope Francis be a feminist pope?] 
 
 But while Francis had elaborated on the need for a greater role for women in the church, he has categorically ruled out the notion of ordaining female priests. As recently as September, he told reporters on a flight back to Rome after his historic visit to the United States that the ordination of women “cannot be done.” 
 
 “Pope St. John Paul II after long, long intense discussions, long reflection said so clearly,” the pope said. “Not because women don’t have the capacity. Look, in the Church, women are more important than men because the church is a woman. It is “la” church, not “il” church. The Church is the bride of Jesus Christ.” 
 
 Church leaders have been talking about the questions surrounding female deacons for years. A 2002 Vatican commission called for a “ministry of discernment” within the church to sort out what female deacons did in the past and how that relates to the present. 
 
 The Vatican’s communications office expanded on the historic role of deacon in the church and the pope’s remarks in a later email. 
 
 Until the 5th century, it noted, both male and female deacons flourished in the Western Church, but the role of deacon declined over the next several centuries, surviving only as an intermediate stage for male candidates preparing for priestly ordination. Following the Second Vatican Council, the Church restored the role of permanent deacon, which is open to single and married men. 
 
 “Many experts believe that women should also be able to serve in this role, since there is ample evidence of female deacons in the first centuries, including one named Phoebe who is cited by Saint Paul in his letter to the Romans,” said an email from English-language press officer the Rev. Thomas Rosica. Francis “said understanding about their role in the early Church remained unclear and agreed it would be useful to set up a commission to study the question.” 
 
 However, the report also noted that when the pope was asked about women preaching homilies during Mass — which deacons do, as do priests — Francis “said it’s important to distinguish” between different types of speaking, and that speaking during Mass connects the role of priest to the person of Jesus, who was male. 
 
 [Pope Francis has an unusually positive view of sex] 
 
 Sister Simone Campbell, a prominent progressive U.S. nun who leads the domestic social justice lobbying firm NETWORK, said she views Francis as “kind of caught” between coming from a culture dominated by images of men as leaders and his own inclinations to create strong bonds with women and view them as leaders, too. 
 
 Despite references in the New Testament and in early church art to women’s leadership, “there are 1,000 years of saying women’s leadership never happened,” Campbell said. “Part of it is lifting up scriptural references that have been glossed over and moving the church along to accept it. You know how it is for human beings — we see what we expect and don’t see what we don’t want to see. I think that’s what’s opening up . . . the effort to look at the deeper truth.” 
 
 Stefano Pitrelli in Rome contributed to this report. 
 
 
 
 This post has been updated. 
 
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 The Archdiocese of Baltimore has posted a list of 71 priests accused of sexually abusing children ||||| (Vatican Radio) Pope Francis led an in-depth discussion on Thursday about the role of women in the Church, saying he wants to set up a commission to study the possibility of reinstating female deacons. His conversation was part of a question and answer session with some 900 heads of female religious orders and congregations who form part of the International Union of Superiors General, or UISG. 
 
 Philippa Hitchen reports: 
 
 Pope Francis spoke off the cuff during his closed door encounter with the sisters, who are currently holding their General Assembly in Rome this week, marking the 50th anniversary of the foundation of their organisation. 
 
 During the hour and a half long conversation about the mission and ministry of women in religious life, the Pope responded to several delicate questions, including one about the history of female deacons. He said understanding about their role in the early Church remained unclear and agreed it would be useful to set up a commission to study the question. 
 
 Women deacons in the early Church 
 
 Up to the 5th century, the Diaconate flourished in the western Church, but in the following centuries it experienced a slow decline, surviving only as an intermediate stage for candidates preparing for priestly ordination. Following the Second Vatican Council, the Church restored the role of permanent deacon, which is open to single and married men. Many experts believe that women should also be able to serve in this role, since there is ample evidence of female deacons in the first centuries, including one named Phoebe who is cited by St Paul in his letter to the Romans. 
 
 More women in leadership positions 
 
 Pope Francis reiterated that he wants to see an increase in the number of women in decision-making positions in the Church, saying women’s perspectives are very important for both the elaboration and the carrying out of such decisions. 
 
 Asked about the possibility of women preaching the homilies during Mass, the Pope said it’s important to distinguish between other types of liturgies, where the sermon can be preached by consecrated or lay women, and the Mass, where the homily is connected to the role of the priest serving “in persona Christi”. 
 
 Changes to Canon Law 
 
 Questioned about the prospect of changes to Canon Law which would facilitate the reform process being undertaken by many women’s congregations, the Pope said such changes could be possible, providing they were the result of a process of discernment by the competent authorities. 
 
 Service not servitude 
 
 Finally Pope Francis spoke about the vital work of the sisters who care for the poor and marginalized. He said this is a vocation of service to the Church and must never be confused with servitude, which is sometimes still asked of them. They should not fear being labelled as ‘activists’, in their service to the needy, he said, but they should also find time for rest and for listening to older or sick members of their communities who are a precious source of wisdom and memory.
– During a meeting with an international group of nuns on Thursday, Pope Francis casually mentioned that he's open to making the biggest change to women's role in the Catholic Church in more than 1,000 years. When one of the sisters asked about the possibility of a commission to look into having women serve as deacons, the pontiff said it was a good idea and it would be useful for him to have the point clarified, the New York Times reports. In the church, deacons are clergy who are allowed to preach and carry out weddings and baptisms, the Washington Post reports. They were important in the early centuries of the church but the role gradually withered from around AD500 onward, though the Second Vatican Council in the 1960s brought back permanent deacons and made the role available to both married and single men. "Many experts believe that women should also be able to serve in this role, since there is ample evidence of female deacons in the first centuries, including one named Phoebe who is cited by Saint Paul in his letter to the Romans," the Vatican press office explained after Francis made his remarks. The Wall Street Journal notes that rising numbers of deacons have helped the church cope with a shortage of priests. Women active in the church in the US say they're thrilled by the apparent shift in policy, which many of them did not expect to see in their lifetimes. "It's very hopeful," Catholic scholar Phyllis Zagano tells the National Catholic Reporter. "It displays Francis' openness to scholarship, to history, and, most importantly, to the needs of the church." (Last month, Francis released a landmark document on marriage, divorce, sex, and family life.)