Pope Francis says women can never be priests

Pope Francis Says Ban on Female Priests Is Likely to Endure

The Roman Catholic Church’s teaching that women cannot be ordained as priests is likely to last forever, Pope Francis said on Tuesday as he flew back to Rome from Sweden.

Francis had traveled to Sweden for a historic ceremony commemorating the year leading up to the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation. He was embraced at an ecumenical church service by the primate of the Church of Sweden, Archbishop Antje Jackelen, who is a woman.

Francis has said before that the Catholic Church’s ban on ordaining women as priests is a closed matter. But questions arose about his intentions after he established a commission to study whether women could be ordained as deacons. (Members of the commission were named in August.)

In a news conference aboard the pope’s plane, a Swedish journalist referred to Archbishop Jackelen and asked whether it was realistic to think that there might be female priests in the next few decades.

According to reporters who were on the plane, Francis responded, “On the ordination of women in the Catholic Church, the last word is clear.”

He cited the apostolic letter, Ordinatio Sacerdotalis, written in 1994 by Pope John Paul II, who has since been canonized. The letter said that ordaining women was not possible because Jesus chose only men as his apostles.

“It was given by St. John Paul II, and this remains,” Francis said.

“Really?” the Swedish journalist asked. “Never?”

“If we read carefully the declaration made by St. John Paul II, it goes in this direction,” Francis replied ......

One of the things many moderate Catholics do is temporize on issues that liberals care so much about, like women being treated equally in the church. They say ... "I'm sure women will be priests someday, the church moves slowly, blah, blah, blah". I wonder what will be the excuse of these Catholics now for doing nothing about this issue?

I've had many posts here pointing out that, despite most moderates' opinions, Pope Francis is *not* a liberal but a social conservative and a sexist. Few in the church share my view, but here's one of them ... It's time to be honest about Pope Francis and women

The pope's pronouncement makes official the church's institutionalizing of sexism. I predict that those who hold sway in the church - priests, bishops, cardinals - will do nothing at all about this. They won't stand up for the women of the church, they won't speak truth to power. Jesus would weep.