Study Group 5, established in early 2024 by Pope Francis to examine the issue of women deacons, is scheduled to report out by the end of June 2025.

But word is already out that the world is crying out for women deacons and the bishops themselves have told us so.

National reports call for change

The national report of the Catholic Church in Belgium for the Synod on Synodality wisely called for decentralising the decision as to whether to allow the ordination of women as deacons.

It recommended leaving it to each diocese, or national or continental episcopal conference.

The same recommendation appears in a number of other official national reports.

Multiple nations speak out

Several other national churches already formally called for women to be ordained as deacons during that same synodal process.

What follows is a list of the most interesting among those which have been made public.

Amazonian church calls for ministry

Most recently, in April 2025, the Episcopal Conference of the Amazon (CEAMA) officially called for “creating the ‘instituted’ ministry of ‘woman leader of the community’ and ordaining women as deacons.”

It also called for such sacramentally ordained women deacons to be provided adequate theological training.

Filipino church backs ordination

A similar call was also made by the Catholic Church in the Philippines.

Their April 2024 national report includes a position paper by theological experts recommending that women be sacramentally ordained “to the permanent diaconate.”

African reports missing

Regrettably, almost no African episcopal conference has published the report of its national consultation.

We cannot see the evidence that their parishioners petitioned for women to be recognised as ministers, although we know from many personal stories that this was the case.

South African statement

One of the few which has published a report, South Africa, acknowledged that “there is a call for the acceptance of women to the diaconate and the ordination of married deacons to the priesthood.”

• Dr Luca Badini Confalonieri – Director of Research, Wijngaards Institute for Catholic Research. He is the author of Democracy in the Christian Church. An Historical, Theological and Political Case (T & T Clark International 2012, 304 pages).
• Flashes of Insight is an international publication. The editorial policy is that spelling reflects the country of origin.