on the ordination of women
Dates | Document Name | Description |
1975 | Report of the Pontifical Biblical Commission | This report by international Catholic Scripture scholars concluded that the ordination of women could NOT be excluded on the basis of Scripture. |
1975 – 1976 | Correspondence between Donald Coggan, Archbishop of Canterbury and Pope Paul VI | The Archbishop of Canterbury informs the Pope of Anglican studies regarding women priests. |
15 October 1976 | Inter Insigniores | Declaration by the Congregation for Doctrine giving reasons why women cannot be ordained. |
27 January 1977 | Commentary on Inter Insigniores | Official commentary by the Congregation on its text. |
1983 | The new Code of Church Law | The exclusion of women from ordination again entered into law. |
1984 – 1986 | Correspondence between Robert Runcie, Archbishop of Canterbury, Pope John-Paul II and Cardinal Jan Willebrands of the Secretariat for Christian Unity | The Archbishop of Canterbury informs Rome of the reasons why the Anglican Communion intends to ordain women as priests |
30 September 1988 | Mulieris Dignitatem | Encyclical by John Paul II on ‘the Dignity and Vocation of Women’ |
30 December 1988 | Christifidelis Laici, The Vocation and the Mission of the Lay Faithful in the Church and the World | Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation of His Holiness John Paul II. Says women cannot be ordained priests in §. 49 and 51 |
13 March 1989 | Profession of Faith & Oath of Fidelity | Oath imposed on theologians and parish priests. See also Ad Tuendam Fidem, below |
24 May 1990 | Donum Veritatis | Instruction by the Congregation for Doctrine on the Ecclesial Vocation of the Theologian |
11 October 1992 | The Catechism of the Catholic Church | Says women cannot be ordained priests in § 1577. |
22 May 1994 | Ordinatio Sacerdotalis | Apostolic Letter by Pope John-Paul II on reserving priestly ordination to men alone. |
28 October 1995 | Responsum ad Dubium | Response by the Congregation for Doctrine concerning the binding nature of Ordinatio Sacerdotalis. |
28 October 1995 | Letter by Cardinal Ratzinger | Commentary on the Congregation for Doctrine’s Responsum . |
29 June 1995 | Letter to Women | Papal Letter to prepare the Beijing Conference. |
1997 | Salt of the Earth: The Church at the End of the Millennium | Interview of Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger with Peter Seewald (Ignatius Press, 1997) |
28 May 1998 | Ad Tuendam Fidem | ‘Motu Proprio’ of John Paul II tightening norms for theologians in the Code of Church Law. |
29 June 1998 | Commentary on Ad Tuendam Fidem by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith | Contains the judgment that those who hold women can be ordained priests, are ‘ no longer in full communion with the Catholic Church’. |
23 March 2000 | Letter to priests | Holy Thursday letter of Pope John Paul II to priests. |
27 July 2001 | Regarding Female Altar Servers | Letter of the Congregation for Divine Worship on the Bishop’s authority to allow women to serve at the altar. |
10 July 2002 | Monitum by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith | Warning ‘regarding the attempted ordination of some Catholic women. |
2002 | The secret examination of new Bishops | Contents of document with questions submitted to candidates to Episcopal office. |
21 December 2002 | Decree ‘On the attempted priestly ordination’ by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith | Affirmation of excommunication of the women who ‘attempted to receive ordination’. |
31 May 2004 | The Collaboration of Men and Women by the Congregation for the Doctine of the Faith | Letter to the Bishops of the Catholic Church on the Collaboration of Men and Women in the Church and in the World |
30 May 2008 | Regarding the crime of attempting sacred ordination of a womanby the Congregation for the Doctine of the Faith | General Decree to impose automatic excommunication on those who ordain women and women who receive ordination. |
2010 2024 | ‘Benedict XVI Light of the World: The Pope, the Church and the Signs of the Times’, A Conversation with Peter SeewaldPope Francis appoints a Synodal ‘Study Group’ to examine women’s ministries | Excerpt translated by Michael J. Miller and Adrian J. Walker (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2010) |