Pope Francis reaffirms: Holy Orders – deacons and priesthood – is reserved for men

Here's a brief video and an article below on the subject – note the Petrine Principle and the Marian principle comment in the article!

https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/pope-francis-affirmsA woman “is not entitled to the Petrine principle, but to the Marian principle, which is more important,” Francis said. “So the fact that woman does not access ministerial life is not a deprivation, because her place is much more important. I believe that in our catechesis we err in explaining these things and ultimately fall back on an administrative criterion that in the long run does not work.”

Pope Francis has affirmed the Catholic teaching that female deacons and female ordination of any kind is not possible, stating that “holy orders are reserved for men.”

On the topic of female priests, Francis stated that “this is a theological problem” that, if attempts were made to include women in the priestly ministry, could “undermine the essence of the Church.”

His comments came as part of a book-length interview conducted with two journalists: Argentinian Sergio Rubin and Italian Francesca Ambrogetti. Their book “Non sei solo” (You are not alone) was released in Italian on Tuesday but was published in Spanish earlier this year.

A woman “is not entitled to the Petrine principle, but to the Marian principle, which is more important,” Francis said. “So the fact that woman does not access ministerial life is not a deprivation, because her place is much more important. I believe that in our catechesis we err in explaining these things and ultimately fall back on an administrative criterion that in the long run does not work.”

The Pope alluded to the much-misconstrued argument of female deacons in the early Church – an argument that is often made today with activists erroneously suggesting that women were ordained. Whether they were ordained or merely helpers to bishops was “not an irrelevant issue because holy orders are reserved for men,” Francis said.

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Questioned as to whether the implementation of female ordinands would perhaps bolster Church attendance, Francis said he disagreed.

“I do not share these arguments. Lutherans ordain women, but still few people go to church,” he said. “Their priests are allowed to marry, but still they cannot grow the number of ministers.”

He argued that “the problem is cultural” and that “we should not be naïve and think that programmatic changes will bring us the solution.”

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