Expectations for change rose after Francis announced his multiyear “synod on synodality” — a landmark summit on the future of the church. In a gesture of inclusion, women were for the first time invited to be voting participants. The pope named a French religious sister, Nathalie Becquart, as undersecretary, in essence making a woman the face of a traditionally male forum.

Advocates of female deacons anticipated a full and historic airing.

Instead, as the synod closes in Vatican City this weekend, the prospect of women becoming deacons appears off the table during Francis’s papacy. The issue is one of many — including priestly celibacy and further outreach to the LBGTQ+ community — that have been parceled out to arcane study groups. The group focusing on women, though, is even less transparent, prompting questions about its composition and the Vatican’s seriousness.

And on Monday, one of Francis’s top lieutenants appeared to shut the door on the idea of female deacons in some of the clearest terms yet.

“We know that the Holy Father has expressed that at this time the question of the female diaconate is not mature and has asked that we not dwell on this possibility now,” Cardinal Victor Fernández, head of the powerful Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, told synod delegates.

That amounted to an unwelcome reality check for Catholics like Kate McElwee, executive director of the U.S.-based Women’s Ordination Conference.

“It feels like a betrayal of the process,” McElwee said. Francis is often seen as a progressive modernizer. But, she said, “I think his blind spot is women.”

Since ascending to the Throne of Saint Peter in 2013, Francis has radically altered the style of the papacy while enacting a limited degree of substantive change — including his controversial decree last year allowing short blessings of people in same-sex relationships. The outcome of the synod may illustrate the limits of Francis’s progressiveness, or his reluctance to push further changes that could divide the globe’s 1.4 billion Catholics.

“I think that the pope has been listening very hard and is interested in more study on women in the church,” said Anna Rowlands, a British theologian who is serving as a nonvoting member of the synod. But those who went into the synod hoping for a fuller discussion of women deacons, she said, “will be feeling some frustration.”

As pope, Francis has exhorted the world’s Catholics to be attentive to women seeking “greater justice and equality.” He has modified church law to formally allow women to hold more roles during Mass. He has also notably pushed for the inclusion of more women in higher ranks of the Roman curia, the Vatican’s bureaucracy. At least three Vatican dicasteries, or ministries, now have women serving as senior officials.

But few issues underscore his embrace of tradition more than his stance on women’s ordination. As recently as a May interview with CBS’s “60 Minutes,” Francis was unequivocal. “Women are of great service as women, not as ministers,” he said.

He often speaks of the church as being metaphorically female, in the sense that it is a “spouse” for the faithful. He has exalted women, while pointedly distinguishing their role in the church — and in society — from that of men.

“Womanhood speaks to us of fruitful welcome, nurturing and life-giving dedication,” he said in remarks that drew criticism from his hosts at a Catholic university in Belgium last month. “For this reason, a woman is more important than a man, but it is terrible when a woman wants to be a man.”

Phyllis Zagano, a leading American scholar on the early church, has questioned Francis’s assumption that women known to have who served as “deaconesses” through the 12th century were never ordained by Holy Orders. “That understanding is not supported by scholarship,” she said in a lecture last month at Fordham University.

Zagano served on one of two church commissions under Francis that examined the issue of women’s ordination. She told The Washington Post that those deliberations were classified as a “pontifical secret” and that she could not disclose any details. But she has also said publicly that she was never informed about what findings were presented to the pope.

“I suppose you would like to know what we gave to the pope,” she said in her lecture. “So would I.”

The new study group on women has raised further concerns about transparency. It is the only one of 10 such groups — formed at the direction of the pope and the synod — whose membership has not been disclosed. A video played at the synod showed the members of other groups, but merely flashed a generic shot of Vatican staff when mentioning the group looking at women’s roles.

During what synod delegates thought would be an informational meeting about the group on Friday, the Vatican instead put forward two nonmember “ambassadors” who were unable to answer most questions, according to two incensed delegates present.

“I’ve never seen anything so poorly handled in the church,” said one, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to talk freely about the closed-to-the-public synod. “There were delegates there, including bishops and cardinals, looking for answers, and they got none. My sense is that the Vatican just wants this subject to go away.”

Asked about the incident — and whether any women were serving in the new study group — Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni referred The Post to a copy of remarks delivered to the synod by Fernández, who said he would release the names of the group’s members on Thursday and offered to meet with synod participants then to “listen to their reflections.”

Fernández also spoke about the study group’s mission, saying the pope wanted the group to explore the development of roles for women “without focusing on the Holy Orders” — in effect, ruling out ordination.

“Rushing to ask for the ordination of deaconesses is not the most important response today to promote women,” Fernández said.

He noted that women can already lead parishes without priests as “catechists,” or religious teachers, a status formalized by Francis in 2021. Such titles do not entail sacred ordination — and do not bestow the full powers of a deacon, who, in most cases, can stand in for a priest.

The global church is split on the question of ordination for women — a fight between traditionalists and progressives that has been reflected in the synod proceedings. A document released at the conclusion of last fall’s session called it “urgent” to ensure that women can participate in “decision-making processes and take on roles of responsibility in pastoral care and ministry.” But delegates were clearly divided on how that should happen.

Zagano assessed that the latest study group — which must report back in June — may ultimately recommend “some sort of non-ordained ‘diaconal ministry’ for women.”

The synod is also debating a decentralization of the church that could vest more power in women who serve in senior roles in local dioceses, such as financial chancellors. If approved, a synodal proposal that would allow laypeople to say the Homily at Mass — something now reserved for priests or deacons — would also apply to women.

Francis has been applauded by some for at least allowing the study of the ordination of women to continue, in contrast to previous popes.

“He’s not saying no more discussion,” said the Rev. Thomas Reese, an American priest who has written several books about the inner workings of the Catholic Church. “A bishop can get up and say ‘I’m in favor of ordaining women’ … and under John Paul or Benedict, that bishop would have been slapped down and been in big trouble.”

Reese added that he didn’t think the pope would change his mind on the ordination of women or the other hot-button issues of the synod.