“In regard to the diaconate we must see what was there at the beginning of revelation, if there was something, let it grow and it arrives, but if there was not, if the Lord didn’t want a sacramental ministry for women, it can’t go forward.”

Pope Francis today issued a wide-ranging decree, known as a "motu proprio" or executive decree, that lays down procedures and norms for reporting abuse in the church, aimed at the eradication of abuse in the church.

Pope Francis said, “There were deaconesses at the beginning [of the church], but [the question is] was theirs a sacramental ordination or not?”

He visited Mother Teresa’s memorial, saw relics of “the saint of the slums” and recited a prayer that he had personally composed. He praised God for the gift of her life and prayed for her intercession for North Macedonia.

Pope Francis is the first pope to visit North Macedonia, where Mother Teresa of Calcutta was born.

Like Saint Francis, the pope said, “each of us is called to follow in his footsteps by becoming a peacemaker, an ‘artisan’ of peace.”