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Chapter 20. Holy Orders • 269
Admission of Women to the Ministerial Priesthood
[
Inter Insigniores
],
nos. 9‑10, 13, 20‑21, 26‑27). Pope John Paul II reaffirmed this teach-
ing in these words: “In order that all doubt may be removed, I declare
that the Church has no authority whatsoever to confer priestly ordina-
tion on women and that this judgment is to be definitively held by all
the Church’s faithful” (
On Reserving Priestly Ordination to Men Alone
[
Ordinatio Sacerdotalis
], no. 4). In that same document, the Pope under-
lined the incomparable achievements of women for the benefit of the
People of God:
The New Testament and the whole history of the Church give
ample evidence of the presence in the Church of women, true dis-
ciples, witnesses to Christ in the family and in society, as well as
in total consecration to the service of God and of the Gospel. “By
defending the dignity of women and their vocation, the Church
has shown honor and gratitude for those women who, faithful
to the Gospel, have shared in every age in the apostolic mis-
sion of the whole People of God. They are the holy martyrs, vir-
gins and mothers of families, who bravely bore witness to their
faith and passed on the Church’s faith and tradition by bring-
ing up their children in the spirit of the Gospel.” (
On Reserving
Priestly Ordination to Men Alone
, no. 3, citing
On the Dignity
and Vocation of Women
[
Mulieris Dignitatem
], no. 27)
Ordination to the priesthood is always a call and a gift from God.
Christ reminded his Apostles that they needed to ask the Lord of the
harvest to send laborers into the harvest. Those who seek priesthood
respond generously to God’s call using the words of the prophet, “Here I
am, send me” (Is 6:8). This call from God can be recognized and under-
stood from the daily signs that disclose his will to those in charge of
discerning the vocation of the candidate.
When God chooses men to share in the ordained priesthood of Christ,
he moves and helps them by his grace. At the same time, he entrusts the
bishop with the task of calling suitable and approved candidates and of
consecrating them by a special seal of the Holy Spirit to the ministry of
God and of the Church (
Admission to Candidacy for Priesthood
, 5).