Vatican: ordaining women as great a sin as raping children

As the Church of England was deciding whether to send legislation permitting women to its dioceses for their approval, the Roman Catholic Curia was also considering the issue of women's ordination. David Gibson at Politics Daily tells us what they came up with:

New rules the Vatican is expected to issue soon on penalties for priests who sexually abuse children will also put the ordaining of women in the same category of the most serious crimes under church law.

Church sources told Catholic News Service that the new "norms," as the policies are called, will include the "attempted ordination of women" among the list of most serious crimes, or what are known as "delicta graviora."

Sexual abuse of a minor by a priest was added to the classification in 2001. The new norms are largely expected to codify changes made in 2001 and 2003 that were aimed at addressing the burgeoning clergy abuse scandal. But the policies expected to be issued later this month will also specifically include the abuse of mentally disabled adults as on par with abusing minors, and it will extend the statute of limitations under the Church's Code of Canon Law from 10 years after a victim turns 18 to 20 years.

Posted by Jim Naughton on July 12, 2010 3:44 PM | |
Comments (4)

And even more to the point, as Anglo Catholics threaten to swim the Tiber over women bishops.

And another thing. Did you catch this: Rome is using the opportunity of revising the abuse norms to slip in the new language about the sin of ordaining women.

How low can you go?

Posted by John B. Chilton [TypeKey Profile Page] | July 12, 2010 6:01 PM

Fear of women runs deep with those boys.

Posted by Ann Fontaine [TypeKey Profile Page] | July 12, 2010 6:57 PM

Reason # 17 that confirms my lack of interest in moving closer to the current Roman curia. The English compromise looks better and better, until ++Rowan, et. al. place revisionist magisterianism( a new heresy?) atop it.

John Donnelly

Posted by John D [TypeKey Profile Page] | July 12, 2010 7:47 PM

As they say, it's all here,

http://www.vatican.va/resources/resources_norme_en.html

"Art. 5 The more grave delict of the attempted sacred ordination of a woman ..."

"Art. 6

§ 1. The more grave delicts against morals which are reserved to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith are:

1° the delict against the sixth commandment of the Decalogue committed by a cleric with a minor below the age of eighteen years; in this case, a person who habitually lacks the use of reason is to be considered equivalent to a minor...."

Posted by John B. Chilton [TypeKey Profile Page] | July 15, 2010 9:19 AM

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