Tony Flannery

1. Next week, My 24 and 25, I am attending a conference organised by the Association of Franco Irish Studies, and taking place in the university of Lille, France.

The title of the conference is “Margins and Marginalities in France and/or Ireland”.  I am speaking at the conference on the Friday afternoon about my experience of dealing with Vatican authorities. I am looking forward to that.

2. A German film producer, Christoph Rolf, has produced a documentary film on the life of Joseph Ratzinger/Pope Benedict.

ACP EXPRESSES DISAPPOINTMENT OVER POPE’S COMMENTS ON WOMEN DEACONS

Saturday 11 May 2019

 

Pope Francis’s comments on women deacons at the press conference on the plane back from Bulgaria, his kicking the can down a timeless road, is a major disappointment. We had come to expect reactions like this from previous popes, but we thought Francis was different, and consequently our disappointment is greater.

The equality of women is critical for the credibility and the future of the Church. 

Pope Francis and the Women Deacons.

After all the times I have defended Francis, and praised his efforts at doing something to reform the Church, I now find myself unable to say a word in his defense over his remarks on the report of the commission he set up three years ago to study if women were deacons in the early Church.
First of all, he has this report for some months; he should not have used a casual, informal chat with reporters on a plane as the occasion to give his response to it.