Archbishop Luis Ladaria Ferre will serve as president of the new commission.

Pope Francis has appointed six women and six men to serve on a new commission to study the issue of women deacons.

Our Sunday Visitor (OSV) is reporting on the 12-member commission, established on August 2, which will be headed by Archbishop Luis Ladaria Ferrer, secretary of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

The commission was set up at the request of the International Union of Superiors General which is comprised of the leaders of women’s religious orders around the world.

As the OSV reports, Pope Francis told the Union in May that while he understood that female deacons who served in the early church were not ordained, “it would be useful for the church to clarify this question.”

Previously, this subject was taken up by the International Theological Commission, a body that advises the doctrinal congregation, and which ultimately concluded that biblical deaconesses were not the same as ordained male deacons.

“At least one of the members Pope Francis named to the commission -- U.S. scholar Phyllis Zagano -- has written extensively on the role of women deacons in the early church, arguing that they were ordained ministers and that women can be ordained deacons today,” the OSV reports.

Zagano is a senior research associate in the religion department at Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York.

Other members of the commission include:

Augustinian Father Robert Dodaro, president of the Pontifical Augustinian Institute in Rome and a professor of patristic theology specializing in the works of St. Augustine.

Spanish Sister Nuria Calduch-Benages, a member of the Missionary Daughters of the Holy Family and member of the Pontifical Biblical Commission.

Francesca Cocchini, a professor of church history at Rome's Sapienza University.

Dr. Phyllis Zagano

Italian Msgr. Piero Coda, a professor of systematic theology and member of the International Theological Commission.

Spanish Jesuit Father Santiago Madrigal Terrazas, professor of ecclesiology at the Pontifical Comillas University in Madrid.

Angeline Franciscan Sister Mary Melone, a theologian and rector of Rome's Pontifical Antonianum University.

Father Karl-Heinz Menke, retired professor of dogmatic theology at the University of Bonn and member of the International Theological Commission.

Rwandan Salesian Father Aimable Musoni, professor of ecclesiology at the Pontifical Salesian University in Rome.

Jesuit Father Bernard Pottier, professor at the Institute of Theological Studies in Brussels and member of the International Theological Commission.

Marianne Schlosser, professor of spiritual theology at the University of Vienna and member of the International Theological Commission.

Michelina Tenace, professor of fundamental theology at Rome's Pontifical Gregorian University.

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