The Vatican doctrine office is preparing a document on the subject of women in leadership roles in the Catholic Church. The initiative seeks to respond to women’s longstanding demands to have a greater say in Church life. Church reform The Dicastery of the Doctrine of the Faith says the new document will form its contribution Read more
Two prominent cardinals have reaffirmed that only men can be ordained to the priesthood, aligning with Pope Francis’s recent statements. “Women cannot be called to this office” Cardinal Gerhard Ludwig Müller stated during an interview with Swiss portal kath.ch on 7 June. Müller, former prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, explained Read more
I will be 80 years old in June. As a young child in the Methodist Church, I was certain I was called to ordained ministry. At Duke University, I majored in religious studies and then served as pastoral assistant and director of religious education in a small church in upstate New York. Then, in the Read more
Pope Francis took a risk in inviting an Anglican woman bishop Bishop Jo Bailey Wells to address him and his advisory Council of Cardinals, Wells says. Nonetheless, she hopes the Catholic Church will continue to explore the topic of women’s leadership with “courage”. “I’m aware … that to many such an opportunity feels rare, if Read more
The “niche issue” issue of women priests and deacons distracts the Church from addressing what women really need, a theologian participating in the Synod on Synodality says. “As a woman, I’m not focused at all on the fact that I’m not a priest,” says Professor Renée Köhler-Ryan (pictured). Köhler-Ryan is the National Head of School Read more
The synod on synodality could cause a schism in the Church, a leading conservative Catholic cardinal says. A new book, “The Synodal Process Is a Pandora’s Box: 100 Questions and Answers,” addresses the “serious situation” brought on by the synod, Cardinal Raymond Burke (pictured, centre) says. Pope Francis is risking confusion and even schism in Read more
Cardinal Robert Sarah recently delivered a conference on the priesthood, emphasising its unique nature and cautioning against female priesthood. Speaking at the Conciliar Seminary in Mexico City under the title “Joyful Servants of the Gospel,” the prefect emeritus of the Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments stressed that no individual can Read more
Pope Francis has unequivocally stated that women cannot be ordained as priests; however, he emphasised the important role they have to play in the life of the Church. In an interview with America Magazine, Francis responded to a question posed by Kerry Webber, executive editor of the magazine published by the Jesuits of the United Read more
A survey asking Catholic lay women about their work for the Catholic church has found while their faith is important to them, lay women are frustrated by lack of women’s leadership opportunities, financial insecurity and clericalism. The lay women surveyed say these frustrations are barriers to them fulfilling their ministerial paths in the church. Entitled Read more
A former papal nuncio to the United Kingdom says it is is “intolerable” that women can’t be ordained to the priesthood. Archbishop Don Pablo Puente, 88, announced during Mass he planned to write to Pope Francis about the matter the next day. The president of Cantabria, Miguel Ángel Revilla, released a report of Puente’s statement, Read more