'Not Christian, not Catholic, and horrifying.' So says Dr Phyllis Zagano, Professor of Religion at Hofstra University in New York, commenting on the Vatican's second commission on the diaconate, which recently published a letter revealing a 50/50 split within the commission on whether women could 'image Christ'.

Listen above to part one of an extended interview with Pat Coyle of Irish Jesuit Communications on the diaconate of women, in which she explains that early church documents show women were ordained as deacons using the same liturgies as men. She also notes how Conciliar documents and 11th-century papal permissions support the ordination of women deacons. She says that no official doctrinal statement has overturned this historical practice, and that to this day Orthodox churches continue to ordain women as deacons.