Vatican Denies Women the Diaconate: The Raelian Movement Condemns Ruling, Stands with unfairly Excluded Women
Rome, December 15, 2025 — Last December 4th, the Catholic Church once again confirmed how disconnected its doctrine is from the real world. With the Petrocchi Commission's ruling, the Vatican definitively declared that women cannot access the ordained diaconate. This decision demonstrates a stubborn determination to uphold a male-dominated power structure.
"The irony is that this decision is presented as a choice of fidelity to tradition, when history confirms the exact opposite," says Marco Franceschini, national director of the Raelian Movement. "In fact, the first Christian communities employed deaconesses, women who performed real, not symbolic, ministerial functions. And historical research continues to uncover far more significant female roles than the Vatican admits.”
All this is happening at a time when institutions at all levels are recognizing the need to overcome patriarchal models, which often lead to violence. Evidently, the Catholic hierarchy prefers to remain entrenched in its archaic positions and perpetuate the oppression of one gender over the other.
"Within the Raelian Movement, it is not only perfectly normal but desirable to see women accessing the highest roles and holding positions equivalent to those of priests and bishops," Franceschini emphasizes. "Far from being inferior individuals subject to male authority, women bring those values generally inherent to the feminine experience, such as refinement, kindness, empathy, compassion, and listening, which constitute the most powerful deterrent to violence. In a world where human aggression toward one another and the environment has seriously threatened the very survival of humanity itself, sharing these values and elevating women to the top of society becomes a matter of absolute priority. In this sense, the contrast between our position and the blind Catholic view is so stark as to be laughable.”
In today's world, no form of discrimination can be accepted, much less normalized in the name of a false tradition. "We encourage Catholic and Christian women who wish to reclaim their dignity to abandon this outdated institution that relegates them to an inferior status," urges Franceschini. "If they wish to reclaim their place in the world and contribute to making this planet a place of peace and happiness, embracing a spiritual and scientific philosophy in perfect harmony with the current era, they are welcome within the Raelian Movement.”
"The irony is that this decision is presented as a choice of fidelity to tradition, when history confirms the exact opposite," says Marco Franceschini, national director of the Raelian Movement. "In fact, the first Christian communities employed deaconesses, women who performed real, not symbolic, ministerial functions. And historical research continues to uncover far more significant female roles than the Vatican admits.”
All this is happening at a time when institutions at all levels are recognizing the need to overcome patriarchal models, which often lead to violence. Evidently, the Catholic hierarchy prefers to remain entrenched in its archaic positions and perpetuate the oppression of one gender over the other.
"Within the Raelian Movement, it is not only perfectly normal but desirable to see women accessing the highest roles and holding positions equivalent to those of priests and bishops," Franceschini emphasizes. "Far from being inferior individuals subject to male authority, women bring those values generally inherent to the feminine experience, such as refinement, kindness, empathy, compassion, and listening, which constitute the most powerful deterrent to violence. In a world where human aggression toward one another and the environment has seriously threatened the very survival of humanity itself, sharing these values and elevating women to the top of society becomes a matter of absolute priority. In this sense, the contrast between our position and the blind Catholic view is so stark as to be laughable.”
In today's world, no form of discrimination can be accepted, much less normalized in the name of a false tradition. "We encourage Catholic and Christian women who wish to reclaim their dignity to abandon this outdated institution that relegates them to an inferior status," urges Franceschini. "If they wish to reclaim their place in the world and contribute to making this planet a place of peace and happiness, embracing a spiritual and scientific philosophy in perfect harmony with the current era, they are welcome within the Raelian Movement.”

