Vatican reaffirms Church teaching on ordination to the priesthood
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Vatican City, Jun 3, 2008 / 01:33 pm (CNA).- The secretary for the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Archbishop Angelo Amato, said this week only men can be ordained to the priesthood because “the Catholic Church is not authorized to change the will of her founder, Jesus Christ."

"Therefore," the archbishop continued, "in the participation in the life and mission of the Church, women cannot receive the sacrament of Holy Orders and therefore, they cannot carry out the functions proper to the ministerial priesthood.”

In an interview with the Vatican daily, L’Osservatore Romano, regarding the recent decree by the CDF on the “ordination” of women, Archbishop Amato explained, that the Church’s teaching on this matter is founded upon the “free and sovereign will of Jesus Christ, who only called men to be apostles.” The Church is bound by the decision of the Lord Himself, he stressed.  “For this reason the ordination of women is not possible.” 

Archbishop Amato said the CDF decree was necessary because of “false ordinations of women that have taken place in different parts of the world.  The General Decree is also an aid to bishops to ensure a uniform response in the entire Church to these situations.  In reality these are not true and proper ordinations,” he explained.

The archbishop went on to note that the decree imposes latae sententiae or immediately applied excommunication on those who attempt to ordain women to the priesthood and on women who attempt to receive Holy Orders.  “The excommunication is automatic, ipso facto,” he stated.

Excommunication bars an individual from participating in the Mass and in the other sacraments of the Church and from exercising any kind of Church ministry.  It is “reserved to the Holy See and is lifted when the persons in question show sincere repentance and promise to follow the Church’s doctrine and discipline."

“Excommunication is a medicinal punishment that invites the person to repentance, conversion and reparation of the scandal, as the act in question was a public one,” Archbishop Amato explained.

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Subscriber comments:
Published by: Tyrone Beiron
Singapore 01/06/2010 02:31 AM EST
Unfortunately for the comments above, most people who challenge the church's currently teaching on the priesthood ignore the insights on the nature of this office which is in reality the humblest submission of human will in total imitation of the life of Christ. It is subjecting oneself to be servant/slave to the Gospel, not a position to covet or to grasp by force; therefore, if anyone truly regards themselves worthy of the priestly office of Christ, they would first understand obedience, poverty and chastity. In which case, like the apostles who left even their families and spouses for the sake of the Gospel, the Good Master applauded them for it. Please, let's not get on the bandwagon for the sake of argument and understand our faith first. Indeed, those who are not worthy, may leave. If you wish to be Catholic, keep the Faith according to the Magisterium.
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Published by: Barbara
Australia 03/29/2009 08:05 AM EST
Jesus behaved according to His era. It has been said that women have been written out of the Gospels by later editors. There are, strictly speaking, no fully male/female - only predominantly male/female.
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Published by: John Healy
Washington/DC/USA 06/06/2008 09:16 PM EST
The Church's position forbidding women priests is cruel, illogical, and historically suspect. One hundred years from now (if the Church still exists), we will have women priests.
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Published by: James Wysocki
Harsens Island, Mi USA 06/05/2008 07:50 AM EST
The attempt to stop dissent through excommunication threats weakens the credibility of the church. Haven't we learned that through the reformation experience?
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