Women Will Never Be Catholic Priests, Says Pope Francis

In a news conference, which he often partakes in during his travels, Pope Francis stated his belief that the Catholic Church’s sanction on women becoming priests is everlasting and will at no time be changed. The Vatican considers it an infallible part of the Catholic tradition.

Francis was returning to Rome from Sweden after attending an event there. When a Swedish reporter pointed out that the head of the Lutheran Church who welcomed the Pope in Sweden was a woman, she wondered if the Catholic Church would allow women to be ordained as ministers in the coming decades.

The Pope said:

This was in reference to a 1994 document by Pope John Paul II which, in effect, blocked female priesthood.

Some months ago, Francis set up a commission to study the role of women deacons (who, like priests, are ordained ministers and must be men) in early Christianity. This move indicated that women could one day have a greater say in the affairs of the Vatican. There is an ongoing debate about the precise role of women deacons in the early Church among the scholars.

But the recent revelation dashed all such hopes. The Women’s Ordination Conference (WOC), a group that promotes female priesthood, expressed their displeasure at the Pope’s comments, calling John Paul’s document “outdated, fallible and painful”.

The WOC said,