This would be a purely academic argument were it not for the crisis that the Catholic church faces as a result of its efforts to maintain a celibate male priesthood all around the world. Broadly speaking, in countries where there are plenty of priests, few of them are celibate, while in the rich north there are very few priests, and celibacy is imposed by old age as much as anything. The median age of Catholic priests in the USA had risen to 64 by 2012, and is presumably higher still now. [...]
Pope John Paul II attempted to close off the question of women priests for a least a couple of centuries. He may have succeeded. But ordaining women deacons would provide a way around the back of his prohibitions. Certainly this was what happened in the Church of England, where the ordination of women as deacons paved the way for their ordination as priests. Once lay people had seen women dressed in priestly robes and performing important functions at the front of the church, the theological distinction between priest and deacons – so very clear and important to anyone inside a dog-collar – came to seem completely irrelevant. [...]
The more the question is discussed, the less convincing the traditional answer becomes. If the commission manages to report before Francis dies, we should see real fireworks.
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