Left, the retracted tweet; right, an incomplete translation by Radical Catholic who caught the screenshot of the tweet before it was taken offline.
Schoenborn retracts tweet on female deacons -
but he has made stronger statements before
that he is in favor of having them
Translated and adapted from
September 30, 2018
Cardinal Christoph Schönborn has once again called the attention of the media to himself. After the much discussed recent episode of giving a mealtime blessing to a homosexual couple who are friends of his, now it is about female deacons.
Last Saturday morning, he tweeted this:
“I have a strong relationship with my priests and deacons. Recently I was able to consecrate new deacons. A great joy. Perhaps one day I will be able to consecrate female deacons… Dear priests, have the courage to work as a team! Collaboration and trust are the A and O” [presumably for Alpha and Omega].
But the Tweet was taken out quickly. But not before at least one person was able to take a screenshot of it and relaunch it.
Manwhile, German-language Catholic media sites have underscored that in fact, Schoenborn has referred earlier to
“opening the debate on female deacons. There were female deacons in the early church, and in some Oriental churches, they still exist,” as the Vienna archdiocese’s own official news agency Kathpress reported recently.
It was quoting remarks made by the cardinal in his cathedral, St. Stephen’s, to a diocesan assembly of 1,700 delegates from parishes, religious orders and the community, who gave their opinions on the next steps in a reform process that has been going on for several years in the Archdiocese. The assembly was held days after he had consecrated 14 married men as permanent deacons. “Fundamentally”, he went on to say, “the debate is open”.
Kathpress notes that last June, Schönborn said in an interview that he was in favor of female deacons. “The introduction of
this first phase of consecration for women is therefore already under discussion."
But at the same time, the cardinal ruled out ordination of women as priests. “There have never been priestesses in the Catholic Church, he said.
“It would be too profound a rupture in the tradition of 2000 years, and even Pope Francis has said that such a move is not predicted”. [But why then did Schoenborn refer to the ordination of female deacons as 'the first phase of consecration for women'??? As to what Pope Francis has said on the subject of women priests, I'll reserve judgment until after the Amazon synodal assembly, which will probably be Bergoglio's opportunity to wedge in a 'synodal' (read Bergoglian) opening towards ending priestly celibacy and ordaining women priests.]