A sec­ond Vat­i­can study com­mis­sion has de­ter­mined that women should not be or­dained as dea­cons, deal­ing an­oth­er set­back to Catholic women who hope one day to be able to pre­side at wed­dings, bap­tisms and fu­ner­als.

The Vat­i­can on Thurs­day took the un­usu­al step of pub­lish­ing a syn­the­sis of the com­mis­sion’s find­ings, in­clud­ing the mem­bers’ votes on spe­cif­ic the­o­log­i­cal ques­tions. The re­port left open the pos­si­bil­i­ty of fur­ther study but pro­posed in­stead the cre­ation of new lay min­istries for women out­side the or­dained di­a­conate, sug­gest­ing that the is­sue for now is closed.

Dea­cons are or­dained min­is­ters who per­form many of the same func­tions as priests, pre­sid­ing at wed­dings, bap­tisms and fu­ner­als. They can preach but can­not cel­e­brate Mass.