The text, signed by the priest Luis Miguel Modino and disseminated in the opinion section of the diocesan weekly, presents that hypothesis as part of an alleged “process” of recognition of the role of women within ecclesial life.
The piece relies on the Synod for the Amazon and the current synodal process to argue that the issue must continue to be “discerned.”
The author even includes without nuance the controversial words of Leonardo Steiner, Archbishop of Manaus, who explicitly raised the restoration of the ordained female diaconate by alleging that it had existed historically.
The article concludes by stating that the Church “must not stop reflecting” on this issue and that the path undertaken should not have “any turning back.”
The fact that the official weekly of the Diocese of Madrid disseminates a proposal of this kind is striking, as the issue of the female diaconate is not merely a disciplinary or pastoral debate, but directly touches the nature of the sacrament of Holy Orders.
The unity of the sacrament of Holy Orders
Catholic doctrine has always affirmed that the sacrament of Holy Orders is one and unique, with three inseparable degrees: episcopate, presbyterate, and diaconate. It is not a matter of three distinct sacraments, but of three degrees of the same sacrament.
Therefore, any attempt to introduce a sacramental ordination of women to the diaconate inevitably affects the entirety of the sacrament of Holy Orders.
This principle has been constantly recalled by the Magisterium. St. John Paul II declared in the apostolic letter Ordinatio Sacerdotalis that the Church has no authority to confer priestly ordination on women.
Although the document explicitly refers to the priesthood, the underlying doctrinal reason is based on the nature of the sacrament of Holy Orders and the constant apostolic tradition, which has always reserved sacramental ordination to men.
Furthermore, the historical tradition frequently invoked to justify the female diaconate is deeply equivocal. The so-called “deaconesses” of antiquity did not receive the sacrament of Holy Orders in the same sense as deacons.
Their function was mainly linked to assistance tasks, especially in the baptism of women or in works of charity, and historical and theological studies have repeatedly shown that they were not part of the ordained clergy.
The International Theological Commission itself already pointed out in its 2002 study on the diaconate that the deaconesses of the ancient Church cannot be considered equivalent to deacons.
Therefore, invoking that historical figure to justify a female sacramental ordination implies an anachronistic reading of the sources.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church also emphasizes that only the baptized male receives valid sacred ordination. This affirmation does not respond to a sociological or cultural decision, but to the Church’s fidelity to the example of Christ and the constant apostolic practice.
Recent precedents in the Diocese of Madrid
The publication of this proposal in the official Madrid weekly does not appear as an isolated fact either. In the working documents of the so-called Convivium promoted in the Diocese of Madrid, a similarly heretical proposal had already been introduced previously: the hypothesis of a “temporary priesthood.”
That idea was incorporated into the materials of the process promoted under the governance of Cardinal José Cobo, suggesting the possibility of forms of exercise of the priestly ministry limited in time.
The mere introduction of that concept in a working document was already surprising to many observers, since the ministerial priesthood, by its own sacramental nature, imprints character and cannot be conceived as a reversible or temporary function.
Priestly ordination is not an administrative assignment or a functional delegation, but an ontological configuration with Christ that permanently marks the ordained.
A dynamic of questioning the sacred Order
The coincidence between these initiatives—the insinuation of the female diaconate and the presence of proposals such as temporary priesthood in diocesan materials—allows us to observe a worrying dynamic within certain ecclesial circles in Madrid: the tendency to progressively question the sacramental foundations of the sacred Order.
At a time when the Church faces serious pastoral and vocational challenges, introducing confusion about the nature of the sacrament of Holy Orders does not contribute to strengthening the faith of the faithful.
Fidelity to the apostolic tradition requires recalling that the sacramental structure of the Church is not the fruit of a sociological process or an institutional evolution, but a gift received from Christ that the Church has no authority to alter.