Archbishop Gaenswein: Claim Benedict XVI Opened Path for Women Deacons ‘Totally Absurd’

Archbishop Georg Gänswein; Below: Bishop Evaristo Spengler. (Edward Pentin photos)
Archbishop Gaenswein: Claim Benedict XVI Opened Path for Women Deacons ‘Totally Absurd’
The Pope Emeritus’ personal secretary firmly rejects Brazilian synod father’s claim that a 2009 papal decree paved the way for women deacons.
Benedict XVI’s personal secretary has said a claim put forward yesterday by a Brazilian synod father that Benedict revised canon law in 2009 to allow the ordination of women deacons is “totally absurd and wrong.”
Archbishop Georg Gänswein, prefect of the Pontifical Household, said he had not spoken to the Pope Emeritus about the matter and his comments to the Register “come only from me.”
His remarks come after Bishop Evaristo Pascoal Spengler of Marajó, Brazil, told reporters yesterday that the synod had opened a path to the ordination of women deacons.
“In 2009 the Pope [Benedict] made a change in canon law, according to which the bishop, the priest and the deacon receive …