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Article: Was the pope wrong? Catholic theologians second-guess the Vatican on the question of ordaining women priests.
- Article from:
- Newsweek
- Article date:
- June 16, 1997
- Author:
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Catholic theologians second-guess the Vatican on the question of ordaining women priests
POPES HAVE A MOTTO: ROMA LOCUTA, causa finita--"Rome has spoken, the case is closed." Three years ago John Paul II issued an apostolic letter in which he declared flatly that "the Catholic Church has no authority whatsoever to confer priestly ordination on women, and that this judgment is to be definitively held by all the Church's faithful." Rome had spoken, but the case wasn't closed. Many bishops and theologians wondered whether the pope was saying that this teaching is infallible--meaning no future pope or ecumenical council of the church could ever change it. In 1995 the ...