As carriers of inerrancy the faithful reject the exclusion of women from the sacred ministries
The Pope and the college of bishops have a crucial role in articulating matters of faith and morals through their authoritative teaching. However, this exercise is grounded in the infallibility of the whole people of God, not the other way about.
A proposed amendment during Vatican II that wanted to make the infallibility of the magisterium the source of the people's infallibility was rejected by the Council as being contrary to Tradition. Vatican II, Acta synodalia III/1, pp. 198-199; R.R.Gaillardetz, Teaching with Authority. A Theology of the Magisterium in the Church, Liturgical Press 1997, p. 154.
“The body of the faithful as a whole, anointed as they are by the Holy One (cf. 1 John 2,20.27), cannot err in matters of belief.”Vatican II, Lumen Gentium, § 12  |
“God’s People clings without fail to the faith once delivered to the saints, penetrates it more deeply by accurate insights, and applies it more thoroughly to life.”Vatican II, Lumen Gentium, § 12 |
“Thanks to a supernatural sense of the faith which characterizes the People as a whole, it manifests this unerring quality when ‘from the bishops down to the last member of the laity’, it shows universal agreement in matters of faith and morals.”Vatican II, Lumen Gentium, § 12 |
Polls among Catholics in
many countries show that a vast majority of practising Catholics believe that
women should be ordained. |
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| Great Britain | Canada | Spain | Portugal | Netherlands | Germany | Italy | Australia | Ireland | USA |
| 65% | 66% | 74% | 71% | 86% | 71% | 58% | 62% | 67% | 68% |
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Full sources are quoted in: The contents of Catholic doctrine will not, and
should not, be decided by majority vote. |
“Are we undermining the authority of the hierarchy?”
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