Roman Catholic Womenpriests - Vatican Response

Vatican Response

The Roman Catholic Church's canon law bars ordination of women, stating that "A baptized male (vir) alone receives sacred ordination validly". The Church teaches this as not a matter of changeable discipline, but of divine constitution that it cannot alter. Pope John Paul II wrote in his Apostolic Letter Ordinatio Sacerdotalis of 22 May 1994: "We declare that the Church has no authority whatsoever to confer priestly ordination on women and that this judgment is to be held by all the Church's faithful". Therefore the ordination of a woman to the priesthood, even if conducted by a Catholic bishop in good standing, is without sacramental effect.