After nearly a decade of study, two Vatican commissions, and years of mounting pressure from Catholic women around the world, the Roman Catholic Church has once again declined to open the diaconate to women. A second commission of church experts—five of whom were women—announced Thursday that it could not recommend allowing women to be ordained as deacons, delivering a sobering verdict to reformers who believed the question was finally nearing a breakthrough.

The committee’s report concluded that its findings “exclude the possibility” of ordaining women as deacons at this time. Deacons, unlike priests, cannot celebrate Mass, but they can preach, baptize, and officiate weddings and funerals. For many reform advocates, the role represented the first tangible step toward recognizing women’s sacramental authority—something the church has withheld for nearly 2,000 years.

Cardinal Giuseppe Petrocchi, who led the commission, left open the possibility that the question could be revisited. In a letter to Pope Leo XIV, he emphasized the need for continued study and floated the idea of creating new ministries specifically for women. The decision was not surprising, but it was deeply disheartening to many who had hoped that Leo might depart from his predecessor’s caution and embrace the church’s historical evidence of female deacons.

“This is a lesson we’ve learned many times over, of just how far the Vatican will go to deny women equality,” said Kate McElwee, executive director of the Women’s Ordination Conference. She described growing impatience among Catholic women who want not only recognition, but meaningful roles in shaping the future of the church.

That future was supposed to be under review. Ahead of Vatican synods in 2023 and 2024, Catholics worldwide were asked to identify priorities for the church, and the role of women emerged as one of the most pressing. Pope Francis responded by creating several commissions to examine the issue, a move that immediately drew backlash from conservative Catholics who argue that opening the diaconate to women would inevitably lead to pressure for women priests—something modern popes have repeatedly declared impossible.

Church historians, however, note that women did serve as deacons in the early church. Scholars such as Phyllis Zagano argue that contemporary opposition is driven more by entrenched cultural assumptions than by theology. “The major culture is the misogynist culture of the Vatican that cannot see women as ordained,” Zagano said, adding that the commission’s report offers no meaningful argument to counter the historical record.

Pope Leo XIV has not publicly shared his position. In an interview earlier this year, he said he had no intention of changing church teaching “at the moment,” though he expressed a willingness to continue listening and affirmed the essential contributions women make to Catholic life. Like Francis, Leo has appointed women to significant administrative roles in the Vatican, but sacramental leadership remains off-limits.

Even as it rejected women deacons, the commission emphasized the need to broaden women’s access to ministerial work and decision-making. It recommended “new ministries” designed for women and urged greater “co-responsibility” in governing structures—incremental steps that fell far short of what advocates had hoped for.