For Immediate Release: Thursday, December 4, 2025

With the publication today of the Petrocchi Commission report on women being called to serve as deacons, Discerning Deacons reaffirms its commitment to the ongoing discernment around women’s access to diaconal ministry and issues the following statement: 

“We are grateful for the Holy Father’s dedication to studying the important question of ordaining women as deacons, and for his transparency in making the Commission’s summary public. 

This moment should not be read as a conclusion. Rather, it is a renewed call to listen more deeply and to take seriously the testimonies of women whose vocations have long been recognized at the local level. Very real pastoral challenges face our Church and around the world. Women already serve with pastoral skill, theological insight, and evangelizing zeal to meet these needs. We encourage future stages of discernment to make more visible the voices and pastoral experiences of women who are already serving with a diaconal heart in so many communities. 

We acknowledge the limitations and the vast amount of input considered by the Commission. We are hopeful for a fuller explanation of how the report’s conclusions were reached; how testimonies were collected, evaluated, and interpreted; and how the discernment that took place will be shared with the People of God in a gesture of trust and transparency.  

The report has, at times, what appear to be contradictory statements as well as footnotes that reference unpublished documents not accessible to lay readers. It also has a tone that dismisses women’s lived experience, dedication, fidelity and sense of vocation, reducing it to a demand for recognition. By offering this insight into the fullness of its processes, the Commission can model the openness, accountability, and consultative spirit essential to the synodal path under which this process began as further discernment takes place. 

In this moment, Discerning Deacons remains hopeful. This Commission’s work is not a final judgment. The global synodal journey shows that the People of God long for a Church that listens humbly, engages lived experience, and seeks the guidance of the Holy Spirit. We trust the path forward will include a broader, decidedly transparent, fully inclusive consultation, so the Church may faithfully perceive how God is calling all of God’s people to serve.

We stand ready to continue walking together in dialogue, prayer, and mission — committed to fostering a Church that is both synodal and missionary, and to animating the pastoral service and diakonia to which all the faithful are called by virtue of baptism.

The Final Document of the Synod on Synodality clearly stated: ‘What comes from the Holy Spirit cannot be stopped. Additionally, the question of women’s access to diaconal ministry remains open. This discernment needs to continue.’

Discerning Deacons remains committed to the Church and to contributing to its ongoing discernment about the ministry of the deacon.”

This statement is endorsed by the Board of Directors of Discerning Deacons.

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