Ordinatio sacerdotalis
Apostolic letter of Pope John Paul II to the Catholic bishops, dated Pentecost 1994, on reserving priestly ordination to men. It is the Catholic Church’s own statement of its position.
The letter is short, four numbered sections. It recalls that Paul VI had answered the Archbishop of Canterbury on the same question in 1975, and it rests the practice on Christ’s choice of men as apostles, on the constant practice of the Church and on its teaching office. It adds that the practice implies no lesser dignity for women.
Section 4 closes with a formal declaration: the Church has no authority to confer priestly ordination on women, and this judgment is to be held definitively by all the faithful. It is cited in this wiki as the Catholic position in its own words. See the First Woman Is Ordained an Anglican Priest.
Cited in
- 25 January 1944, firm date