The Second Vatican Council, in re-establishing the permanent diaconate and in redefining the episcopacy, undertook to profoundly renew the theology and the practice of the sacrament of Orders for our times. The present article, in the same spirit, attempts to define more clearly the diaconate, by radically distinguishing it from the priesthood. This distinction would be seen in modifying the custom, started by the Church, of imposing the diaconate as a necessary step for those to be ordained priests. History shows us that on this point, as on many others that pertain to the sacraments (defined as «7» only in the 12th c.), the Church has the power - and the duty - to adapt its practice according to the times.
