Nun praises pope’s roles for women but hopes successor can make more progress

Belfast Telegraph - 21/04
A Catholic nun and theologian has praised Pope Francis for placing women in decision-making positions within the Church but expressed her wish that his successor can go “further and faster” on the issue.

Sister Gemma Simmonds, a past president of the Catholic Theological Association of Great Britain, said she hopes that within her lifetime women will be able to become deacons.

This role, currently only held by men in the Church, would allow women to perform marriages and funerals, bring sacraments to the sick and preach regularly.

Sister Gemma Simmonds said she hopes the next pope will move further on making women as deacons (Stephanie Kalber/PA)

A permanent deacon is not the same as a priest, a role also only held by men in the Catholic Church.

Ms Simmonds, a senior fellow at the Margaret Beaufort Institute in Cambridge, said there is evidence women were deacons in the past and insisted questions around greater roles for females “will not go away”.

The 68-year-old told the PA news agency: “I would love to see women have more of a voice within the Church.

“As things currently stand that is not going to happen unless we have women ordained to the diaconate.

“I don’t see as a theologian, any cogent theological or historical reason why that should not be so.

“I would have loved to have seen Pope Francis move on that faster. I still live in hope that I will see that before I die...
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