“I would like to set up an official commission to study the issue: I think it will be good for the Church to clarify this point. I agree with you, and I will speak to do something of this kind. This is Pope Francis’ answer to a question put to him yesterday during the meeting with the International Union of Superiors General. “What prevents the Church from including women among the permanent deacons, just as it happened in the early Church? Why not set up an official commission to study the case?” was the question put to Pope Francis, who replied by recalling that there were “permanent women deacons” in the early Church. The Council of Chalcedon dealt with the matter, but their role was “somewhat unclear”: “Were they ordained or not?”. There are some publications about the diaconate in the Church, but it is unclear what it was like”, the Pope continued. “I am going to ask the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith to inform me about the studies on the topic of permanent diaconate. And I would like to set up an official commission to study the issue: I think it will be good for the Church to clarify this point. I agree with you, and I will speak to do something of this kind”.