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July 22, 2005
Has the Catholic Church decided on whether Women can become Priests?
In the U.S. we constantly read articles on whether women should be allowed into the priesthood or not. As of late, I’ve read more than a few that suggested women were becoming priests against the wishes of the Church. So I think it’s important that we understand that this question has been decided. In fact, it has been infallibly decided by the Church that women cannot become priests.
I can hear the shock now, since Americans likely haven’t heard this before. But it is true. And it was made infallible by one of the greatest and most loved Popes, John Paul the Great. In Ordinatio Sacerdotalis (Priestly Ordination), an apostolic letter written by Pope John Paul II and released in 1994, he writes:
Wherefore, in order that all doubt may be removed regarding a matter of great importance, a matter which pertains to the Church’s divine constitution itself, in virtue of my ministry of confirming the brethren I declare that the Church has no authority whatsoever to confer priestly ordination on women and that this judgment is to be definitively held by all the Church’s faithful.
I think Pope John Paul II put it as clearly as he could in that statement. Yet the controversy continued. Primarily, the controversy was caused by the fact that this was a apostolic letter, rather than a completely infallible document (apostolic letters are not held as highly as an encyclical, which is traditionally seen to be infallible). Especially in the U.S. we heard that this was “opinion” rather than “truth.” It seemed that the Pope was very clear, so one man decided to find out.
That man was a Bishop who submitted a dubium (a question that asks for an “authoritative response”). His question (this is taken directly from Witness to Hope an excellent book by George Weigel):
Dubium: Whether the teaching that the Church has no authority whatsoever to confer priestly ordination on women, which is presented in the Apostolic Letter Ordinatio Sacerdotalis to be held definitively, is to be understood as belonging to the deposit of faith.
The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, under the leadership of Cardinal Ratzinger (now Pope Benedict XVI), answered this way:
Responsum: In the affirmative.
This teaching requires definitive assent, since, founded on the written Word of God and from the beginning constantly preserved and applied in the Tradition of the Church, it has been set forth infallibly by the ordinary and universal Magisterium (cf. Second Vatican Council, Dogmatic Constitution on the Church Lumen Gentium, 25, 2). Thus, in the present circumstances, the Roman Pontiff, exercising his proper office of confirming the brethren (cf. Luke 22:32), has handed on this same teaching by a formal declaration, explicitly stating what is to be held always, everywhere, and by all, as belonging to the deposit of faith.
As I stated above, the Church has infallibly decided that women cannot become priests. Does this lower the value or position of women? No. Does it hurt the respect we have for them? No. Pope John Paul the Great put it best in the same apostolic letter Ordinatio Sacerdotalis:
The fact that the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God and Mother of the Church, received neither the mission proper to the apostles nor the ministerial priesthood clearly shows that nonadmission of women to priestly ordination cannot mean that women are of lesser dignity, nor can it be construed as discrimination against them.”
And what of those women who claim to be ordained Catholic priests? By canon law they are actually excommunicated at the moment they attempt this impossibility. Let’s pray that they all come back home to Mother Church.
God bless,
Jay
Posted by jay at July 22, 2005 8:14 PM
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Comments
Thank you for this post. While I have always held to the doctrinal content, I did not understand its definitive nature until now. God bless.
Posted by: John the Mad at July 26, 2005 10:58 PM
i like what you said but to God bethe glory amen
Posted by: ugwu nkechi at September 27, 2005 4:20 AM
I am disgusted.
Posted by: Tori at February 15, 2006 5:58 PM
I just found that as a man I can't bear children....I'm disgusted ;-) God in His infinite wisdom deemed it so in my "natural" composition. In His infinite wisdom, God also founded the Church to be the pillar and bulwark of truth and to bind on earth and in heaven. The Church declaring this shows that God wills it.
Are we in control or is God? The exclusion of women from the priesthood in no way compromises their dignity nor the glory of womanhood.
In Christ,
Joe
Posted by: Joe at February 19, 2006 3:22 PM
Amen to Tori!
Posted by: Mary at April 25, 2007 7:41 PM
As best I can tell, you guys are saying that banning women from leadership positions isn't discriminatory because the Pope says so. Nevertheless, it defies common sense. By this logic, the Catholic Church could make ANY rule for women, and by definition, because of the teachings about Mary, NO rules regarding women CAN be discriminatory.
IOW, it would be just as easy for the Pope to say "Women are not allowed to speak without permission" and because Mary is held in such high esteem it is proof that this is not "discriminatory" but rather the "natural" place of women in the church.
Makes no sense unless you agree to let the Pope do your thinking for you.
Posted by: Don at October 3, 2007 3:31 PM
Don,
As best I can tell, you didn't read the post.
The point is this: Jesus only chose men to be priests, so the Pope has said (infallibly) that he cannot override the decision that God has already made. So the Church doesn't have the authority to create women priests, since Jesus set the example.
Is that easy enough? Clear?
The point is that Mary is the highest full human who lived, so if Jesus chose NOT to make her a priest, clearly the role is limited to men. Priests act "in persona Christi" (in the place of Christ), which clarifies why Jesus might want a man in the role. Frankly men and women have different roles (no matter what society might say) and this one role is not appropriate for women.
Make sense?
God bless,
Jay
Posted by: Registered User 
at October 21, 2007 8:13 PM
