WORLDWIDE SOLIDARITY: THE VISION OF A DIACONAL CHURCH

With the Second Vatican Council (1962–1965), the Catholic Church reintroduced the ministry of the permanent diaconate. Since then, ministers have been living and working in many regions of the world, now also in Lithuania. What is their mission? How will they have a lasting and fruitful impact? This article clarifies which biblical sources of diakonia and diaconate and which early Church texts can provide orientation, and raises the urgent question of a diaconate for women, as only men have been admitted to this ministry to date. This article goes on to examine those sources that can be considered fundamental for the reintroduction of this ministry by the Second Vatican Council, before turning to the Amazon Synod initiated by Pope Francis. The resulting synodal and post-synodal documents are presented, discussed and taken further, towards the vision of a Diaconal Church.