Vatican: Ordain a woman and get excommunicated

VATICAN CITY -- The Vatican firmly rejected attempts by women to become priests in the Roman Catholic Church, reiterating in a decree Friday that anyone involved in ordination ceremonies is automatically excommunicated.

A top Vatican official said in a statement that the church acted after what it described as "so-called ordinations" in various parts of the world.

Monsignor Angelo Amato of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith says the Vatican also wants to provide bishops with a clear response on the issue.

The church has always banned the ordination of women, stating that the priesthood is reserved for males. The new decree is explicit in its reference to women.

In March, the archbishop of St. Louis, Missouri, excommunicated three women -- two Americans and a South African -- for participating in a woman's ordination. They were part of the Roman Catholic Womenpriests movement, which began in 2002.

The decree was published Thursday by Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano, which in a headline called the ordination of women a "crime."

The congregation said it acted to "preserve the nature and validity of the sacrament" of ordination.

The decree -- signed by the congregation's head, American Cardinal William Levada -- said that anyone trying to ordain a woman and any woman who attempts to receive the ordination incurs automatic excommunication.

Pope Benedict XVI led the doctrinal office before becoming pontiff in 2005. Like his predecessor, Pope John Paul II, he has consistently rebuffed calls to change traditional church teachings on divorce, abortion, euthanasia, gay marriage and the requirement that priests be male and celibate.

The Rev. Thomas Reese, a U.S.-based Jesuit theologian, said he believed the decree was an attempt by the Vatican to emphasize the rule.

"This is another opportunity to send the signal that it's a no-no," he said.

In Friday's statement, Amato said the Vatican felt "in good company" with the Orthodox and ancient eastern churches that maintain an all-male clergy, saying that Protestant churches have been the ones to break tradition.

Amato said the church does not feel authorized to change the will of Christ, who chose only men as his Apostles.

Catholics who are excommunicated cannot receive the sacraments. Amato said the penalty can be lifted if those so punished are sincerely repentant.