In the final days of the most significant Catholic gathering since the 1960s, the prospect of women being ordained appears off the table during Francis’s papacy.

Advocates for a greater role for women in the Catholic Church say Pope Francis is failing their cause at a global meeting of Church leaders drawing to a close this week, by shunting aside the question of finally letting women be ordained as clergy.

The issue of women deacons had been a major theme of the current Vatican synod on how to make the Catholic Church more welcoming and transparent.