The battle for women's access to the diaconate has been raging for a long time in the Catholic Church and women are still excluded from this office!
Basically, this is shameful for the leadership of the church, because even in the early church there was evidence of this office for women, as can be seen from NT texts: "I commend to you our sister Phoebe, who is a deaconess in the church of Cenchrea, that you receive her in the Lord, as is fitting for saints...." (Rom 16:1).
Even in the early (and later also in the medieval) church, however, this office was very soon contested due to the patriarchal attitude towards women that was widespread at the time (and still is today!). This can be seen from sources of canon law in the Corpus Iuris Canonici, in particular from the first part of theCorpus, the "Decretum Grationi". A well-known legal scholar of the Middle Ages, Johannes Teutonicus, claimed that women were not eligible for ordination because of their gender,
This opinion, however, although it was undoubtedly the prevailing opinion of his time, did not remain completely unchallenged; this is clear from the concluding remarks on C. 27 q. 1 c. 23* (Commentary on the Decretum Gratiani), where itsays:
"Alii (i.e. those who do not hold the opinion ofJohn Teutonicus), however, confess that a religiouswoman can very well be validly ordained, (dicunt, quod si Monialis ordinetur, bene recipitcharacterem (ordinis): quia ordinari (quaestio) facti est et post baptismum quilibet potest ordinari) - for on the basis of the baptism that has taken place, any (suitable) person can be validlyordained."
(for proof of this statement, reference is made tothe following decision of the Council ofChalcedon:
(*Wording of C. 27 q. 1 c. 23 (Decretum Grationi) - Decision of the Council of Chalcedon (451 AD):
"No woman should be ordained (ordinari) as a deaconess until she is 40 years old, and then only after careful examination. But if, after she has beenordained and has exercised her ministry for some time, she marries, disregarding the grace of God, she shall be banned together with the person who entered intothe marriage with her.")
According to this view - which is contrary to traditional thinking - the indispensable prerequisite for valid ordination is not male gender, but only baptism!
And today?
Women are still excluded from the diaconateand priesthood in the Catholic Church, despitewhat the CIC says:
can 849 (CIC/1983):
"Baptism is the gateway to the sacraments; their actual reception, or at least the desire for them, is necessary for salvation;
Through it, people are freed from sin, recreated as children of God and, through an indelible imprint of Christ, incorporated into the Church" (...).
This canon 849 CIC clearly contradicts c. 1024/CIC :
"Only a baptized man validly receives holyorders.")
Why hasn't this been recognized and taken intoaccount for a long time?
The anti-Christian patriarchal thinking thatunfortunately still prevails - especially in theVatican - prevents the progress that is so necessary, but which is required for theChurch by Jesus Christ!
Cf: Mk 10, 42ff: Jesus says: "You know that the rulers of the nations enslave them, and that the great make them feel their power: Let it not be so among you; rather, whoever wishes to be great among you, let him be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you, let him be your slave. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as ransom for many..." (see also Mt 20:25).
- Ida Raming: "The exclusion of women from priesthood. God-given tradition or discrimination? (1973) (German version)
Page 115 see also p. 164;
now published in 3rd edition (Lit Verlag 2021).
Ida Raming, Dr. theol., September 2021; revised andcsupplemented (March 2025).
