Pope Francis amended the Code of Canon Law to allow women to perform more responsibilities during Mass, the Vatican announced on Monday.
“There is nothing new about women proclaiming the Word of God during liturgical celebrations or carrying out a service at the altar as altar servers or as Eucharistic ministers,” wrote Vatican News, a service provided by the Holy See’s Dicastery for Communication. “However, up to this point, this has occurred without a true and proper institutional mandates. … Now, in the wake of the discernment which has emerged from the last Synods of Bishops, Pope Francis wanted to formalize and institutionalize the presence of women at the altar.”
The changes include allowing women to read the Gospel and to serve as lectors or Eucharistic ministers, but they stop short of the possibility of conferring priesthood on women.
The pope previously exhibited openness to allowing women a greater role in church proceedings, having convened two commissions of experts to study the subject of whether women could become deacons in the Catholic Church.
Phyllis Zagano, a member of the first commission, praised the move as “a very big deal.”
“This is the first movement to allow women inside the sanctuary [because] you can’t be ordained as deacons unless you’re installed as lectors or acolytes,” she said, alluding to a possible future that includes female deacons.
The decision was not met with universal acclaim. Lucetta Scaraffia, a onetime editor of the Vatican’s women’s magazine, criticized the “double trap” of merely formalizing current practice while explicitly prohibiting female priesthood.
“This closes the door on the diaconate for women,” she said, adding that the announcement was “a step back” for women.
