© Filippo Monteforte, AFPPope Francis sits with youth for a prayer vigil at Campus Misericordiae in Brzegi as part of the World Youth Days on July 30, 2016.
The 13-member commission, made up of seven men and six women, will study the question of female deacons with a particular focus on the history of women having played this role in the early years of the Church, the Vatican said in a statement.
The move follows a pledge made by Francis in May during a question-and-answer session with members of female religious orders.
Advocates of women serving as deacons have long argued that they are pitifully under-represented in the Church's hierarchy and decision-making processes.
Allowing women to enter the clergy at a rank just below a priest would represent a first step towards correcting this imbalance, they argue.
Comment: It's hard to see how Duterte squares his call for killings of this sort with the rule of law... The drug lords aren't the only ones who don't like him (to put it mildly). He's a thorn in the side of the Empire: