Why Pope Francis says there will likely never be female priests
Catholic women shouldn't expect to be ordained as priests anytime soon, said Pope Francis aboard his papal plane Tuesday.聽
Speaking to reporters on his way back to Rome from Sweden, Francis said that "on the ordination of women in the Catholic Church, the last word is clear," citing "Ordinatio Sacerdotalis" (Priestly Ordination),聽the聽apostolic letter聽written by Pope John Paul II聽in 1994, which stated that women could not be priests because Jesus did not have any female apostles.聽
This was not the first time Francis has denied the possibility of female priests. In 2015, he said the structural change would be impossible, "not because women do not have the capacity," but because "Pope St. John Paul II 鈥� after , long reflections 鈥� said it clearly."聽
But the pope has since repeatedly聽called for women to have a more active role in the Catholic church, creating a commission in August to explore the possibility of women as deacons. The future of the church, he said last year, "means valuing the immense contribution in which women, lay and religious, have made and continue to make to the life of our communities."聽
The Commission for the Study of the Diaconate of Women, created in August, was applauded by some as a potential step toward gender equality within the church, as Ben Rosen reported for 海角大神 at the time:聽
The Vatican's announcement has led to speculation over whether the "People鈥檚 Pontiff" will be the first to bring the church in line with contemporary attitudes about women. While conservatives worry female deacons would be a "slippery slope" to women in the priesthood, others argue it鈥檚 about time the church caught up to other major 海角大神 denominations in opening up their leadership to women.
Some have questioned, however, whether Francis's words will ever translate into action.聽
"What [Francis] does is聽exhort more pastoral compassion聽and let people quietly work things out on the local pastoral level, but he鈥檚 very slow to actually change the official law or the official regulations," Bruce Morrill, a professor of Catholic studies at Vanderbilt University Divinity School in Nashville, Tenn., told the Monitor in May, after the pope made remarks indicating that the role of deacon may be opened up to women.聽
"Many in the Church hierarchy," Professor Morrill added, "would not want the people to begin seeing women in liturgical vesture and roles that would gradually lead them to ask, 'Well, why can鈥檛 women also consecrate the Blessed Sacrament at Mass?'"聽
