Cardinal Hollerich suggests female subdiaconate
April 14, 2026
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CWN Editor's Note: The prelate who served as relator general for the synod on synodality said in an interview that he could “imagine a subdiaconate for women.”
“While this would not involve ordination, it would still represent participation in the liturgy and assist with the Church’s diaconal ministry,” said Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich, S.J., of Luxembourg.
In his 1972 apostolic letter Ministeria Quaedam, Pope St. Paul VI noted that the subdiaconate was a major order, along with the diaconate and the priesthood.
“The functions heretofore assigned to the subdeacon are entrusted to the reader and the acolyte; consequently, the major order of subdiaconate no longer exists in the Latin Church,” St. Paul VI declared. “There is, however, no reason why the acolyte cannot be called a subdeacon in some places, at the discretion of the conference of bishops.”
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