Rome – On May 30, 2008 the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith restated its earlier condemnation of women seeking ordination.  In the case of an attempted female ordination, both the candidate and the person performing the ceremony incur automatic excommunication (latae sententiae).  Neither the Holy See nor the local bishop needs to intervene: the excommunication is automatic.

Actually, the issue of women’s ordination died years ago.  Pope John Paul II in his 1994 apostolic letter “On the Priestly Ordination of Women,” made it clear that the Church had “no authority whatsoever to confer priestly ordination on women,” and that this was in fidelity to the will and example of Jesus.

However, in its charity for wayward people, the Vatican feels it necessary from time to time to remind the faithful of earlier conclusions and statements because some are hard of hearing. The issue, for example, continues to be discussed in some liberal Catholic publications.  Commonweal magazine, for example, published the article “Why not ordain women?” by Robert J. Egan, S.J. on April 11, 2008.