THE
P RTAL
December 2016
Joanna Bogle reflects on one of the
most overlooked things Pope Francis
said on his return journey from Sweden
“Never? Never
Auntie Jo a n
Never
means never
Page 4
ever?” The questioner was asking Pope
Francis about the possibility of the Church ordaining women
as priests. Never, ever, explained Pope Francis. Never means never.
Women can’t be ordained. This is the teaching of the Church and it is
clear and unchangeable.
na
wri tes
“On the ordination of women in the Catholic to our understanding of ourselves as human beings with
Church, the final word is clear; it was said by St John a spiritual destiny – is somehow too mentally taxing.
Better to stick with trite clichés. “If a woman can drive a
Paul II and this remains.”
London bus why can’t she be a Catholic priest? I mean,
It was All Saints’ Day. The Pope was returning it’s all just about sexism, isn’t it?”
from Sweden where, amid goodwill and in a spirit
Pope Francis gave some useful teaching on
of friendship, he had joined Lutherans in marking
the anniversary of the Reformation. Inevitably, the priesthood, the Church, and women, putting it in
question about women priests came up. The Swedish simple terms. “In Catholic ecclesiology there are two
Lutherans have women priests The Pope was polite, dimensions to think about,” he said. “The Petrine
cheerful and friendly with the ones he met. After dimension, which is from the Apostle Peter, and the
500 years and a lot of bickering – to say nothing of Apostolic College, which is the pastoral activity of the
executions and imprisonments and so on – it is good bishops, as well as the Marian dimension, which is the
that there is friendship and courtesy, and a spirit of feminine dimension of the Church.”
kindliness between Lutherans and Catholics.
Pointing out that the Holy Mother Church “is a
Can the Catholic Church ever ordain women? No. woman”, Francis said that the “spousal mystery” of
In order to grasp the importance of this it is necessary the Church as the spouse of Christ can help us to
to grasp the nature of the Church and of theology. understand these two dimensions.
The Church herself, Pope Francis explained, is a
“I ask myself: who is most important in theology and
woman. The Church is not a collection of people who
sometimes gather for worship. The Church is Christ’s in the mysticism of the Church: the apostles or Mary
Bride, and the whole story of God’s love for his people, on the day of Pentecost? It’s Mary!” he said.
and the Incarnation, is spousal. It’s a love story. It’s a
The Church “doesn’t exist” without this feminine
marriage.
dimension, or “maternity”, the Pope said, “because the
In a curious way, people are sort of accurate when Church herself is feminine.”
they make a mental link between same-sex marriage
and a female priesthood. They often make the link
The Ordinariate has a role to play in this discussion,
simply because both of these things have come to be because one of the proximate causes for its coming
part of common life and discourse within recent times. into existence was the Anglican decision to have
But there is a link, at a rather profound theological level. women priests. This issue was one on which cracks
and splits, confusion, muddle and incoherence became
Pope Francis has been patiently explaining the abundantly clear within the Anglican Communion.
Church’s teaching on all of this. People do understand The notion that a Christian group could vote on a
that this is all profoundly connected and important, but major theological issue and, by a majority decision,
at another level they find it difficult to get beyond the could change a part of Christian teaching, is itself
current media assumptions and slogans. The idea that muddled. But during the Anglican debates of the
there are profound truths – worth exploring, and central
... continued at the foot of the page 20 Ø