Cardinal Walter Kasper, president of
the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, on Friday
said that Pope Francis's decision to open a panel on the
possibility of women serving as deacons within the Roman
Catholic Church will bring a "fierce confrontation" within the
Church.
The cardinal spoke in an interview in Italian daily La
Repubblica, and said "on this issue the Church is divided in
two".
He said he doesn't believe, however, that if women served
as deacons it would be the first step towards women serving in
the priesthood.
"The pope has said that this door is closed, after the very
clear words of John Paul II on the 'no' to female priesthood. I
can't imagine that Francis would change that decision," Cardinal
Kasper said.
Lower House Speaker Laura Boldrini on Friday called the
panel a "momentous decision" and said it's "redemption for the
Catholic women who want to have a role within the Church".
"But let's not call them women deacons, but deaconesses,"
she said.
Paola Binetti, a Catholic MP with the small centrist Area
Popolare (AP) party, said the decision "will surely make an
important step forward but without coming to an assimilation of
the priesthood.
"Francis has said that for these women there could be a
benediction but not a consecration. Which means that the
expansion of the feminine role in the Church will follow a
different way than the canonical one, which leads to the
priesthood and then to the episcopate," she said.
"Let's not forget, however, that 99% of the work of mercy
that the Church does passes through the heart, the intelligence
and the organisational capacities of women".
Binetti said that leadership roles for women become more
scarce at the upper levels both within the Church as well as
outside the Church, such as in politics.
"Even Renzi, when he chose his government, was very
attentive to gender equality, but when it was time to replace
(Federica) Mogherini and (Federica) Guidi to guide two important
ministries, he replaced them with two men".
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