Sad news out of the Vatican yesterday, as several Catholic news outlets are reporting that Pope Francis is putting a commission together to study the possibility of ordaining women as Deacons.
We know that only men can be ordained as Priests, and this will be the focus of this post. Canon Law Made easy has a post about Women ‘Deacons’, which you can read HERE.
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What do I mean?
There are several ways to answer this. The first is to read another fantastic article from Canon Law made easy: HERE.
The main source for understanding this is Pope John Paul II’s document Ordinatio sacerdotalis. In this document, Pope John Paul II says this:
- Although the teaching that priestly ordination is to be reserved to men alone has been preserved by the constant and universal Tradition of the Church and firmly taught by the Magisterium in its more recent documents, at the present time in some places it is nonetheless considered still open to debate, or the Church’s judgment that women are not to be admitted to ordination is considered to have a merely disciplinary force.
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 (cf. Lk 22:32) 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.
This statement is reflected in Canon Law, Canon 1024, which says:
Can. 1024: A baptized male alone receives sacred ordination validly
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Now, the Pope can change Canon Law, so in effect, the Pope could change this canon to allow for women to be ordained… except…
Pope John Paul II’s statement in Ordinatio sacerdotalis is infallible, meaning that it is unchangeable. How can we be sure? Good question! First of all, examine the language, which gives us the first clue. The Holy Father tips us off with this phrase: “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 (cf. Lk 22:32) I declare that…”
And if you’re still unsure, Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, says this:
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.
Responsum: 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. Lk 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 the faith.
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So the future Pope Benedict XVI, the greatest theologian of our time, unmistakably confirmed the infallibility of the statement. It is settled: Women can never be priests.
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Can women be deacons? The question is above my pay grade, but many have written of the problems of this. In the Traditional sense, Deacons are a step to towards the Holy Priesthood. Some argue there were women deacons in history, but as Canon Law Made Easy explains, that evidence is not very good and decision ‘based’ on this would be very problematic, to say the least.
Let us pray for Pope Francis, through the intercession of Our Lady, St. Pius X, St. Michael the Archangel, and St. Mary Magdalene. Let us also pray for the disturbed women who think they are priests or bishops.
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Musings of a Michigan-Man 