“We know that the Holy Father has expressed that at this time the issue of the female diaconate is not mature and has asked that we not entertain this possibility for now,” Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández told the synod Oct. 21.

Father Marcelo Pérez, an Indigenous Tzotzil priest and peace activist, was murdered after celebrating Sunday Mass in Mexico's southern Chiapas state.

Even if some members of the Synod of Bishops end up feeling disappointed by the results of the synod, “God’s providence is at work in this assembly,” Cardinal-designate Timothy Radcliffe said.

Around 100 synod delegates filed into the Vatican’s old synod hall yesterday afternoon seeking answers about the secretive Vatican-instituted study group that had, among other issues, been tasked with looking into the possibility of ordaining women deacons.

A Reflection for Wednesday of the Twenty-ninth Week in Ordinary Time, Cecilia González-Andrieu

A Reflection for Tuesday of the Twenty-ninth Week in Ordinary Time, by Colleen Dulle