From the earliest moments of the Church, women have served as deacons, ministering to those in-need in their communities. But over the centuries, that important role was somehow lost. Now, with the recent movement towards greater female leadership in the Church, the question of women’s ordination to the diaconate has resurfaced. In tonight’s program, we look at how real that possibility is and the significance of a recent panel discussion held at Fordham University that made media headlines because of that specific topic: “The Future of Women Deacons”. Here's a look at some of the stories that we bring you on tonight's show.

• Animals of all kinds converge at St.Peter’s Square for an annual traditional blessing that goes back to 1437.
• The pope is in Panama this week for the 2019 World Youth Day, and we take a look at his schedule for 5 days during this world event.
• Is female ordination to the diaconate a real possibility for the Catholic Church? If so, would there be a difference between their ministry and that of their male deacon counterparts? That’s our feature story for tonight.
• And this week in the history of the Vatican, we look at the year 1506, when on January 22nd the first contingent of Swiss Guards arrived at the Vatican.

We have all that and more coming up on this week's edition of Vatican Connections.