Ordination of women and the Catholic Church

In the liturgical traditions of the Catholic Church, the term ordination refers to the means by which a person is included in one of the holy orders of bishops, priests, or deacons.

[3] The Catholic News Service reports that the church does not ordain anyone who has undergone sex reassignment surgery and gives a "recommendation of psychiatric treatment and spiritual counseling" for people who are transsexual, contending that these are an indicator of "mental instability".

Paul's letter to the Romans, written in the first century, commends Phoebe who is described as "deaconess of the church at Cenchreae" that she be received "in the Lord as befits the saints, and help her in whatever she may require from you, for she has been a helper of many and of myself as well.

[6][7] In AD 494, in response to reports that women were serving at the altar in the south of Italy, Pope Gelasius I wrote a letter condemning female participation in the celebration of the Eucharist, arguing that those roles were exclusively reserved for men.

[11] In the church of Santa Prassede in Rome, "Theodora Episcopa"—episcopa being the Latin for "bishop" but in feminine form—appears in an image with two female saints and the Virgin Mary.

Per Eisen Ute, the use of a title usually reserved for a consecrated Roman bishop could therefore be seen as honorific, rather than suggesting that she herself undertook a leadership role, or it could be a later addition.

[25] In the period between the Reformation and the Second Vatican Council, mainstream theologians continued to oppose the priestly ordination of women, appealing to a mixture of scripture, church tradition and natural law.

[citation needed] Ecumenical councils, according to the church, are a part of the universal and extraordinary magisterium, making their canons and decrees infallible insofar as they are about the Catholic faith and morals.

Reasons given were the church's determination to remain faithful to its constant tradition, its fidelity to Christ's will, and the iconic value of male representation due to the "sacramental nature" of the priesthood.

[2]Pope John Paul II explains the Catholic understanding that the priesthood is a role specially set out by Jesus when he called twelve men out of his group of male and female followers.

As the prior example illustrates, this does not foreclose the possibility that, in the future, the consciousness of the Church might progress to the point where this teaching could be defined as a doctrine to be believed as divinely revealed.

He later expanded on this in a November 2016 informal statement on the return flight from his papal visit to Sweden to commemorate the Reformation: "On the ordination of women in the Catholic Church, the final word is clear, it was said by St. John Paul II and this remains."

"[54] Gryson argues that the use of the verb cheirotonein and of the substantive cheirothesia clearly indicate that women deacons were ordained by the laying on of hands.

[57] The Second Vatican Council in the 1960s revived the permanent diaconate, raising the question of female engagement from a purely theoretical matter to one with practical consequences.

[75] In Mulieris dignitatem, Pope John Paul II wrote, "In calling only men as his Apostles, Christ acted in a completely free and sovereign manner.

In doing so, he exercised the same freedom with which, in all his behavior, he emphasized the dignity and the vocation of women, without conforming to the prevailing customs and to the traditions sanctioned by the legislation of the time.

"[76] In Ordinatio sacerdotalis, John Paul II wrote: "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 the non-admission of women to priestly ordination cannot mean that women are of lesser dignity, nor can it be construed as discrimination against them.

They run catechetical programs in parishes, provide spiritual direction, serve as lectors and extraordinary ministers of Holy Communion, and teach theology.

In 1994, the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments interpreted the 1983 Code of Canon Law to permit girls and women to assist at Mass as altar servers.

[79] On January 11, 2021, with the Apostolic Letter Spiritus Domini, Pope Francis modified Canon 230.1 to allow both men and women to be formally installed as lectors and acolytes.

The Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith had issued a decree in 2008 declaring such "attempted ordinations" invalid and that, since canons 1378 and 1443 apply to those who participate in these ceremonies, all were excommunicated.

"[86] Womenpriests interprets the works of certain Catholic scholars (for example, former minister John Wijngaards, liturgical reformist Robert W. Hovda, and theologian Damien Casey) to say that they have doctrinal support for the ordination of women.

[98] As of 2013, a minority in the Association of U.S. Catholic Priests support ordaining women to the priesthood and a majority favour allowing woman deacons.

[101] In October 2019 German bishop Franz-Josef Overbeck said many Catholic people don't understand why women are unable to be deacons or priests, which he thinks should be changed.

[104] In February 2011, 144 German-speaking academic theologians (making up one-third of the Catholic theology professors in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland) submitted a document styled as Church 2011 calling for a list of concessions including "women in (the) ordained ministry".