As with any papal transition, when Pope Leo XIV was elected questions arose about what his priorities would be, and whether he would continue to advance the priorities and reforms of his predecessor.
One of the most consistent questions up to now, as the world is getting to know Pope Leo, has been what his approach to women will be, and whether he will continue Pope Francis’s trailblazing efforts to create more meaningful spaces for them in governance and authority, including within the Roman Curia.
What Leo will do on issues such as women’s priestly ordination and the women’s diaconate remain to be seen, however, he was a participant in Francis’s Synod on Synodality, which led to the formation of several study groups focusing on specific issues, including one on ministries and the possibility of the women’s diaconate.
At the start of the 2024 Synod on Synodality, Argentine Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, prefect of the Vatican’s Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF), who is in charge of the study group exploring the women’s diaconate, said it was premature to make any sort of decision on the issue, and that it would continue to be studied.
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