The commission, in a 7-1 vote, said historical research and theological investigation “excludes the possibility” of allowing women to serve as deacons at this time

International News via Reuters:

A high-level Vatican commission voted against allowing Catholic women to serve as deacons, maintaining the global Church’s practice of all-male clergy, according to report given to Pope Leo and released on Thursday.

The commission, in a 7-1 vote, said historical research and theological investigation “excludes the possibility” of allowing women to serve as deacons at this time but recommended further study of the issue.

The report said the group’s assessment of the matter was strong, but “does not as of today allow a definitive judgment to be formulated”.

The late Pope Francis instituted two commissions to study the possibility of women serving as Catholic deacons, who, like priests, are ordained, but cannot celebrate Mass.

The commissions met in secrecy. Thursday’s report is the first time that the results of the discussions have been made public.

Pope John Paul II banned women from serving as priests in 1994, but did not specifically address the issue of women deacons.

Advocates point to evidence that women served as deacons in the early centuries of the Church. One women, Phoebe, is mentioned as a deacon in one of the letters of the apostle St. Paul.

Reporting by Joshua McElwee, editing by Alvise Armellini

The plans mark the culmination of Europe’s slow realisation that it must act fast and across sectors to end years-long dependency on single points of origin for energy or goods

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The European Commission on Wednesday unveiled plans to boost EU resilience to threats like rare earth shortages by strengthening trade measures and adding new economic security tools.

The plans mark the culmination of Europe’s slow realisation that it must act fast and across sectors to end years-long dependency on single points of origin for energy or goods. It follows several painful jolts in the form of the COVID pandemic, Russia’s war in Ukraine and the impact of U.S. tariffs.

The EU executive set out what it called an “economic security doctrine” for the 27-nation bloc, which is also contending with Chinese restrictions that have choked supplies of essential rare earths and chips.

The EU wants to remain a global manufacturing leader, but risks falling behind China and the U.S. in technologies like batteries and AI.

The EU agreed on Wednesday to end Russian gas imports by late 2027 and the Commission wants to repeat this success with the REsourceEU Action plan, which aims to speed up the development of its own resources.

EU TO REVIEW SUPPLY CHAINS, INBOUND INVESTMENT RULES

The Commission wants to coordinate more closely with EU members and business to review EU supply chains, rules on inbound investment, its defence and space sectors, and its strength in new technologies and critical infrastructure.

“We want to move from reacting to reshaping our policies,” Trade Commissioner Maros Sefcovic said.

Sefcovic said the Commission would review by the third quarter of 2026 how to speed up trade measures such as anti-dumping and anti-subsidy duties, now applied only after year-long probes.

New measures might be designed to counter unfair trade and market distortions, including overcapacity, to encourage firms in high-risk sectors to have more than one supplier and to set a preference that EU-based companies are used in public tenders for work in strategic sectors.    

The EU would also prioritise support for EU businesses that were reducing foreign dependencies in critical sectors or technologies.

Sefcovic said the EU would likely take some lessons from Japan, which responded to China suspending rare earth exports in 2010 over a territorial dispute by diversifying, recycling more, building reserves and forging partnerships.    

Commission Vice President Stephane Sejourne said the EU could make some diversification measures mandatory.

“For reasons of economic security, European companies – just like Japanese and U.S. companies, or indeed, Indian – need to stop buying 100% Chinese,” he said.

Reporting by Philip BlenkinsopAdditional reporting by Julia PayneEditing by Frances Kerry

Four of the six jobs on the ECB’s executive board will become vacant by the end of 2027, beginning with Vice President Luis de Guindos, whose term ends in May 2026

International News via Reuters:

The Spanish government will seek to keep a Spaniard on the executive board at the European Central Bank where the race for top jobs will kick off next year, Economy Minister Carlos Cuerpo told Reuters on Wednesday.

Four of the six jobs on the ECB’s executive board will become vacant by the end of 2027, beginning with Vice President Luis de Guindos, whose term ends in May 2026.

“From the Spanish side, we will, of course, work to keep on having a prominent representation and a seat at the ECB executive board,” Cuerpo said in an interview on the sidelines of an event in Toronto.

Speculation around Spain’s chances to fill future vacant roles at the ECB resurfaced after Cuerpo withdrew from the race to become Eurogroup president last week.

The minister said it was “important that we have a balanced view of the final composition of the ECB council, once all the positions are filled in, because there needs to be a balance in its composition”.

ECB President Christine Lagarde, chief economist Philip Lane and board member Isabel Schnabel will all reach the end of their terms in 2027, sparking a competition between capitals to secure the euro zone’s most powerful monetary policy roles.

Asked if a Spaniard could potentially succeed Lagarde, Cuerpo said: “Well, it’s early to say, but again, we will make sure also that whichever position we will be running for, we will present the best candidate possible.”

Reporting by Caroline Stauffer in Toronto; Writing by Jesús Aguado in Madrid; editing by Andrei Khalip

Brazil’s COP30 presidency pushed through a compromise climate deal after over two weeks of negotiating that would boost finance for poor nations coping with global warming

International News via Reuters:

The final outcome of the COP30 climate summit in Brazil last month was “disappointing,” but showed multilateralism still works in the absence of the United States’ participation and amid growing geopolitical tensions, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told the Reuters Next conference in New York on Wednesday.

“I have mixed feelings about the COP,” Guterres said about the annual UN climate negotiations that took place on the edge of the Amazon rainforest. 

“On one hand, I think it is remarkable that with the United States out and campaigning against it and the fossil fuel industry clearly determined to make sure that things would not move forward … with all these movements against it, it was possible to have an agreement, and this shows that multilateralism works,” he said.

WORRIED ABOUT MISSING TEMPERATURE GOAL

Brazil’s COP30 presidency pushed through a compromise climate deal after over two weeks of negotiating that would boost finance for poor nations coping with global warming. Still, it omitted any mention of the fossil fuels driving it, which critics say showed the world was backtracking on the previous consensus that the world should phase down their use.

Several countries objected to the summit ending without stronger plans to rein in greenhouse gases or address fossil fuels.

“What worries me more is that we are at the present moment in a situation in which the scientific community is already unanimous in recognizing that we are going to go above 1.5 C,” he said, referring to the temperature threshold world governments set at a landmark 2015 climate agreement in Paris.

“This overshoot means that all these things that we are witnessing will get more frequent, more dramatic,” he said, referring to devastating storms and floods, adding that countries need to strive to cap greenhouse gas emissions now and undertake a drastic reduction over the next few years.

CHINA STEPPING UP

Guterres said the disengagement of the U.S. from climate action has left the door wide open for China, which dominates the global market for renewable energy and electric vehicles.

He said China set a low-ball climate target this year by pledging to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by only up to 10% from an unspecified peak, but he expects the world’s largest greenhouse gas emitter to outperform its goal.

“An acceleration of reduction of emissions is essential in China, from the point of view of the world, because they represent 30% of (global) emissions,” he said.

He urged developed countries to step up their investments in the next generation of clean technologies beyond solar and wind, such as green hydrogen, to leapfrog China.

“Green hydrogen is probably an important bet that Western countries should be doing to gain in relation to the next market dispute,” he said.

View the live broadcast of the World Stage here and read full coverage here.

Reporting by Valerie Volcovici; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Rod Nickel