APOSTOLIC LETTER ON RESERVING PRIESTLY ORDINATION TO MEN ALONE
"Ordinatio Sacerdotalis"
POPE JOHN PAUL II
1. PRIESTLY ORDINATION, which hands on the office entrusted by Christ
to
his Apostles of teaching, sanctifying, and governing the faithful,
has in
the Catholic Church from the beginning always been reserved to men
alone.
This tradition has also been faithfully maintained by the Oriental
Churches.
When the question of the ordination of women arose in the Anglican
Communion, Pope Paul VI, out of fidelity to his office of safeguarding
the
Apostolic Tradition, and also with a view to removing a new obstacle
placed
in the way of Christian unity, reminded Anglicans of the position of
the
Catholic Church: "She holds that it is not admissible to ordain women
to
the priesthood, for very fundamental reasons. These reasons include:
the
example recorded in the Sacred Scriptures of Christ choosing his Apostles
only from among men; the constant practice of the Church, which has
imitated Christ in 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]
But since the question had also become the subject of debate among
2. The Declaration recalls and explains the fundamental reasons for
this
In the Apostolic Letter In fact, the Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles attest that this call
was
3. Furthermore, the fact that the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God
and
The presence and the role of women in the life and mission of the Church,
The New Testament and the whole history of the Church give ample evidence
Moreover, it is to the holiness of the faithful that the hierarchical
4. Although the teaching that priestly ordination is to be reserved
to men
Wherefore, in order that all doubt may be removed regarding a matter
of
Invoking an abundance of divine assistance upon you, venerable Brothers,
From the Vatican, on 22 May, the Solemnity of Pentecost, in the year
1994,
Joannes Paulus Pp. II
NOTES
1. Paul VI, 2. Cf. Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Declaration Inter
3. 4. Paul VI,
5. Apostolic Letter 6. Cf. Dogmatic Constitution 7 Cf. 1 Tim. 3:1-13; 2 Tim. 1:6; Tit. 1:5-9.
8 Cf. 9 Cf. Dogmatic Constitution on the Church 10 Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Declaration 11 Apostolic Letter 12 Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Declaration -------------------------------------------------------------------
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theologians and in certain Catholic circles, Paul VI directed the
Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith to set forth and expound
the
teaching of the Church on this matter. This was done through the
Declaration
ordered to be published.[2]
teaching, reasons expounded by Paul VI, and concludes that the Church
"does
not consider herself authorized to admit women to priestly ordination."[3]
To these fundamental reasons the document adds other theological reasons
which illustrate the appropriateness of the divine provision, and it
also
shows clearly that Christ's way of acting did not proceed from sociological
or cultural motives peculiar to his time. As Paul VI later explained:
"The
real reason is that, in giving the Church her fundamental constitution,
her
theological anthropology-- thereafter always followed by the Church's
Tradition--Christ established things in this way."[4]
regard: "In calling only men as his Apostles, Christ acted in a completely
free and sovereign manner. In doing so, he exercised the same freedom
with
which, in all his behaviour, he emphasized the dignity and the vocation
of
women, without conforming to the prevailing customs and to the traditions
sanctioned by the legislation of the time."[5]
made in accordance with God's eternal plan: Christ chose those whom
he
willed (cf. Mk. 3:13-14; Jn. 6:70), and he did so in union with the
Father, "through the Holy Spirit" ( Acts 1:2), after having spent the
night in prayer (cf. Lk. 6:12). Therefore, in granting admission to
the
ministerial priesthood,[6] the Church has always acknowledged as a
perennial norm her Lord's way of acting in choosing twelve men whom
he made
the foundation of his Church (cf. Rev. 21:14). These men did not in
fact
receive only a function which could thereafter be exercised by any
member
of the Church; rather they were specifically and intimately associated
in
the mission of the Incarnate Word himself (cf. Mt. 10:1, 7-8; 28:16-20;
Mk. 3:13- 16; 16:14-15). The Apostles did the same when they chose
fellow
workers[7] who would succeed them in their ministry.[8] Also included
in
this choice were those who, throughout the time of the Church, would
carry
on the Apostles' mission of representing Christ the Lord and Redeemer.[9]
Mother of the Church, received neither the mission proper to the Apostles
nor the ministerial priesthood clearly shows that the non-admission
of
women to priestly ordination cannot mean that women are of lesser dignity,
nor can it be construed as discrimination against them. Rather, it
is to be
seen as the faithful observance of a plan to be ascribed to the wisdom
of
the Lord of the universe.
although not linked to the ministerial priesthood, remain absolutely
necessary and irreplaceable. As the Declaration
out, "the Church desires that Christian women should become fully aware
of
the greatness of their mission; today their role is of capital importance
both for the renewal and humanization of society and for the rediscovery
by
believers of the true face of the Church".[10]
of the presence in the Church of women, true disciples, witnesses to
Christ
in the family and in society, as well as to total consecration to the
service of God and of the Gospel. "By defending the dignity of women
and
their vocation, the Church has shown honour and gratitude for those
women
who--faithful to the Gospel--have shared in every age in the apostolic
mission of the whole People of God. They are the holy martyrs, virgins,
and
the mothers of families, who bravely bore witness to their faith and
passed
on the Church's faith and tradition by bringing up their children in
the
spirit of the Gospel".[11]
structure of the Church is totally ordered. For this reason, the
Declaration
and must be desired, is love (cf. 1 Cor. 12 and 13). The greatest in
the
Kingdom of Heaven are not the ministers but the saints".[12]
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.
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.
and upon all the faithful, I impart my Apostolic Blessing.
the sixteenth of my Pontificate.
the Priesthood, (30 November 1975):
Insigniores on the Question of the Admission of Women to the Ministerial
Priesthood (15 October 1976):
Apostolic Exhortation
81 (1989), 393-521;
(1988), 1715.
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