Venerable Brothers in the Episcopate!
1. The priestly ordination, through which the ministry entrusted by Christ to his apostles is conferred—namely, to teach, sanctify, and govern the faithful—has from the beginning been reserved exclusively to men in the Catholic Church. The Eastern Churches have also faithfully maintained this tradition.
When the question of the ordination of women arose in the Anglican community, Pope Paul VI, in fidelity to his office, was concerned to protect the apostolic tradition and, likewise, with the intention of avoiding a new obstacle on the path to Christian unity, reminded the Anglican brothers of the Catholic Church’s position: “She holds that it is not admissible to ordain women to the priesthood for fundamental reasons. Among these reasons are: the example recorded in the Holy Scriptures of Christ, who chose only men as his apostles; the constant practice of the Church, which imitated Christ by choosing only men; and her living teaching authority, which has consistently held that the exclusion of women from the priesthood is in accordance with God’s plan for his Church.”[1] However, since the question was also disputed among theologians and in some Catholic circles, Paul VI charged the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith to set forth and explain the Church’s teaching on this matter. This was accomplished through the declaration Inter Insigniores, whose publication the Pope ordered after confirming the text.[2]
2. The declaration repeats and explains the reasons for this teaching as set forth by Paul VI, concluding that the Church does not consider herself authorized “to admit women to priestly ordination.”[3] To such fundamental reasons, that document adds theological reasons, which explain the appropriateness of this divine disposition for the Church, and it makes clear that Christ’s actions were not based on sociological or cultural motives of his time. Thus, Pope Paul VI further explained, “the real reason is that Christ established it so, when he endowed the Church with her fundamental constitution and her theological anthropology, which the Church’s tradition has always followed.”[4] In the Apostolic Letter Mulieris Dignitatem, I myself wrote in this regard: “If Christ called only men to be his apostles, he did so in a completely free and sovereign manner. He did it with the same freedom with which, in his overall behavior, he emphasized the dignity and vocation of women, without conforming to the prevailing customs and the tradition sanctioned by the legislation of the time.”[5]
Indeed, the Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles show that this calling took place according to the eternal plan of God: Christ chose whom he willed (cf. Mk 3:13-14; Jn 6:70), and he did so together with the Father “through the Holy Spirit” (Acts 1:2), after spending the night in prayer (cf. Lk 6:12). Therefore, in admitting candidates to the ministerial priesthood[6], the Church has always recognized as a norm the way of acting of her Lord in choosing the twelve men whom he made the foundation of his Church (cf. Rev 21:14). They did not merely assume a function that could have been exercised by any member of the Church, but were in a special and profound way associated with the mission of the incarnate Word himself (cf. Mt 10:1,7-8; 28:16-20; Mk 3:13-15; 16:14-15). The apostles did the same when they chose co-workers[7] to succeed them in their ministry.[8] Included in this choice were also those who, throughout the history of the Church, were to continue the mission of the apostles, making Christ, the Lord and Redeemer, present.[9]
3. Moreover, the fact that Mary, the Mother of God and Mother of the Church, did not receive the specific mission of the apostles nor the ministerial priesthood, shows clearly that the exclusion of women from priestly ordination cannot mean a lesser dignity or discrimination against them, but is the faithful observance of a plan to be attributed to the wisdom of the Lord of the universe.
Even though the presence and role of women in the life and mission of the Church are not linked to the ministerial priesthood, they remain absolutely necessary and irreplaceable. As the declaration Inter Insigniores pointed out, Holy Mother Church “desires that Christian women become fully aware of the greatness of their mission: their role is of the highest importance today both for the renewal and humanization of society and for the rediscovery by believers of the true face of the Church.”[10] The New Testament and the whole history of the Church amply demonstrate the presence of women in the Church as true disciples and witnesses of Christ in the family, in secular professions, or in perfect consecration to the service of God and the Gospel. “Indeed, by upholding the dignity and vocation of women, the Church has expressed reverence and gratitude for those who—in fidelity to the Gospel—have participated in the apostolic mission of the whole People of God throughout history. These include holy martyrs, virgins, mothers who courageously bore witness to their faith and, by raising their children in the spirit of the Gospel, passed on the faith and tradition of the Church.”[11]
On the other hand, the hierarchical structure of the Church is entirely ordered to the holiness of the faithful. Therefore, the declaration Inter Insigniores recalls, “the only higher gift, which must be earnestly desired and sought, is love (cf. 1 Cor 12-13). The greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven are not the ministers but the saints.”[12]
4. 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 has been consistently taught by the Magisterium in recent documents, it is still considered at present in some places as open to debate, or it is attributed merely disciplinary significance to the Church’s decision not to admit women to this ordination.
Therefore, so that all doubt may be removed regarding a matter of great importance, which pertains to the divine constitution of the Church 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 faithful of the Church.
As I invoke upon you, venerable brothers, and upon the whole Christian people the constant divine assistance, I impart to all my Apostolic Blessing.
From the Vatican, on May 22, the Solemnity of Pentecost in the year 1994, the sixteenth of my Pontificate.