Pope praised for progress on leadership roles for women

CAMBRIDGE NUN SAYS THERE IS MORE WORK TO BE DONE

- By AINE FOX

A CATHOLIC nun and theologian has praised Pope Francis - whose death was announced by a senior Vatican official yesterday, aged 88 - for placing women in decision-making positions within the Church but expressed her wish that his successor can go "further and faster" on the issue.

Sister Gemma Simmonds, a past president of the Catholic Theological Association of Great Britain, said she hopes that within her lifetime women will be able to become deacons.

This role, currently only held by men in the Church, would allow women to perform marriages and funerals, bring sacraments to the sick and preach regularly.

A permanent deacon is not the same as a priest, a role also only held by men in the Catholic Church.

Ms Simmonds, a senior fellow at the Margaret Beaufort Institute in Cambridge, said there is evidence women were deacons in the past and insisted questions around greater roles for females "will not go away".