In his Apostolic Letter of May 22, 1994, Ordinatio Sacerdotalis, John Paul II removed all doubt concerning women priestesses in Catholicism:
In order that all
doubt may be removed regarding a matter of great importance, a matter which
pertains to the Church’s divine constitution itself, in virtue of my ministry
of confirming the brethren (cf. Lk 22:32) I declare that the 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 (John Paul II,
Ordinatio Sacerdotalis, §4, DS, 4983)
Commenting on its authoritative status in
Catholicism, Lawrence Feingold wrote the following:
John Paul II
expressed himself very precisely to make it very clear that the pronouncement
is definitive and therefore infallible. The First and Second Vatican
Councils have determined the conditions necessary for a papal teaching to be
infallible. The Pope must speak (1) as universal Pastor exercising his
apostolic charge over the universal Church, (2) with the intention of
determining a question in a definitive manner, and (3) in a matter concerning
faith or morals (See Vatican I, Pastor Aeternus; LG §25; CCC,
§891: “The Roman Pontiff, head of the college of bishops, enjoys this
infallibility in virtue of his office, when, as supreme pastor and teacher of
all the faithful—who confirms his brethren in the faith—he proclaims by a
definitive act a doctrine pertaining to faith or morals”). All of these
requirements are realized in §4 of Ordinatio Sacerdotalis. First, the Pope
speaks as supreme pastor, “in virtue of my ministry of confirming the brethren
(cf. Lk 22:32).” Secondly, he clearly intends to make a definitive act, for he
says: “this judgment is to be definitively held by all the Church’s
faithful.” Finally, he makes it clear that this question pertains to faith and
morals, for it is “a matter which pertains to the Church’s divine constitution
itself.” The Church’s divine constitution pertains to the Church’s
nature as a sacramental body constituted by God, and thus it belongs in the
realm of faith and not merely ecclesiastical discipline.
John Paul II does not
say that this truth is revealed by God and therefore should be firmly believed,
as in the definition of the Immaculate Conception or Mary’s Assumption into
heaven (See Pius IX, Ineffablis Deus [1854;DS, 2803]; and Pius XII, Munificentissimus
Deus [1950], §44 [DS, 3902]. Another example of a dogma defined as divinely
revealed is the definition of papal infallibility by the First Vatican Council
in the Dogmatic Constitution Pastor Aeternus, DS, 3073-74), but rather
states it is to be “definitively held.” This means that he is not
teaching it as a revealed dogma, but as a doctrine that is necessarily
connected to revealed truth, and hence included in the deposit of faith. The
Church can teach a doctrine infallibly in two ways: as directly revealed by
God, for which reason it is to be firmly believed, or at least necessarily
connected with revealed doctrine, on account of which it is to be firmly held
by the faithful. The teaching of this paragraph of Ordinatio Sacerdotalis falls
into this second category. However, it is not unreasonable to think that this
doctrine has in fact been revealed by God through the apostolic Tradition, and
that the Church could declare it as such in the future (See CDF, Doctrinal
Commentary on the Concluding Formula of the Professio Fidei [June 29,
1998], §11, in Origins 28, no. 8 [July 16, 1998]:118, which expressly speaks
of this possibility: “This does not foreclose the possibility that, in the
future, the consciousness of the Church might progress to the point where this
teaching could be defined as a doctrine to be believed as divinely revealed”).
(Lawrence Feingold, Touched by Christ: The Sacramental Economy [Steubenville,
Ohio: Emmaus Academic, 2021], 202-3)
