Bishop Joseph E. Strickland: A Pastoral Statement on Recent Events at St. Peter’s Basilica and the Integrity of the Priesthood

Images and reports have been circulating showing an Anglican woman “bishop” offering a gesture of blessing within the precincts of St. Peter’s Basilica. For many among the faithful, this has not been a moment of unity, but a source of deep confusion and sorrow.

As a successor of the Apostles, I am bound to speak – not with harshness, but with clarity born of charity.

The Catholic priesthood is not a human creation. It is a divine gift instituted by Our Lord Jesus Christ, entrusted to the Church, and safeguarded through the centuries with fidelity and sacrifice. The priest, by sacramental ordination, is configured to Christ in a unique and irreplaceable way, acting in persona Christi Capitis, especially in the offering of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.

For this reason, the Church has definitively taught that she has no authority to confer priestly ordination on women. This teaching is not a matter open to change, adaptation, or reinterpretation. It belongs to the deposit of faith. …

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