"Brazilian bishop: Pope Benedict XVI opened path to women’s diaconate"

"A Brazilian bishop made a detailed argument in favor of women being admitted to the permanent diaconate Friday.

Bishop Evaristo Pascoal Spengler of Marajó, Brazil stated at Friday’s post-Synodal meeting that Pope Benedict XVI himself had opened the way canonically to the 'ordination' of women as deaconesses.

In response to a question by LifeSiteNews’ Diane Montagna concerning Christ’s establishment of a male priesthood, Spenger said:

'I was saying [before] that Pope Benedict XVI, he disconnects the ministry of the diaconate from Christ the head. So canonically this opens the way to the ordination of women as deaconesses, not as priests or bishops.'

During his presentation in the Holy See’s press hall, Spengler had argued that the recovery of the permanent diaconate by the Second Vatican Council and a change to canon law by Benedict XVI 'leaves the road open for the ordination of women' to the diaconate.

'...Vatican II takes up the issue of the diaconate for married men, and the diaconate for married men is based on argument that men exercise in the Church a diaconal service, and it would be good to ordain them so that they can do this more effectively. That’s good and useful for the Church. We think that this is a very valid argument for the ordination [sic] of women as deaconesses in the Church,' Spengler said.

'Pope Benedict XVI made a very important step down this road. He changed Canon 1009 in the Code of Canon Law, which used to say that bishops, priests, and deacons receive the mission and faculty of acting in the name of Christ the head. He changed these words of the canon, and said that from that moment, deacons no longer no longer act in the name of Christ the head. To the contrary, they are given the capacity to serve the People of God in the diaconia of the liturgy, the word and charity,' the bishop continued.

'So here we perceive that this leaves the road open for the ordination of women [to the diaconate].'"