Ss. Cyril and Methodius Ukrainian Catholic Church

The cross of the German “Synodal Way.” / Credit: Maximilian von Lachner / Synodaler Weg

CNA Newsroom, Jun 13, 2024 / 12:00 pm (CNA).

Just one day before a crucial meeting of the German Synodal Way, a Catholic initiative announced it has turned to the Vatican in an attempt to avoid what it sees as the risk of “serious scandal” over the push for a permanent Synodal Council to oversee the Church in Germany.

The committee charged with turning the Synodal Way into a permanent council is scheduled to meet on Friday and Saturday this week.

On Thursday, the group Neuer Anfang (“New Beginning”) said it had written a letter to Rome, dated June 11, to determine whether the constitution of such a committee “complies with or violates the Church’s legal order.”

The group’s statement also warned that if bishops’ actions were found to be breaches of duty and the Church failed to disapprove or impose consequences, this could encourage believers to ignore Church norms. Neuer Anfang described this as the risk of a “serious scandal” that could permanently damage the faith of believers.

“It is important to remember that the deplorable practice of covering up sexual abuse has always involved disregard for the applicable norms of canon law,” the statement said. 

“It is a puzzling, even unbearable, contradiction when those who claim to want to draw the necessary conclusions from this scandal act in a way that goes beyond legality and legitimacy by breaking the law.”

Key topics at meeting in Mainz 

The synod committee, charged with turning the Synodal Way into an official Synodal Council, is scheduled to meet on Friday and Saturday, June 14–15, at a four-star hotel in Mainz, some 26 miles west of Frankfurt.

The official agenda comprises three key topics: “Synodality as a Structural Principle of the Church and the Regulations of the Synodal Council,” “Evaluation and Monitoring of the Implementation of the Decisions of the Synodal Way,” and “Further Development of the Initiatives of the Synodal Way.”

The meeting in Mainz will follow several interventions and meetings between the Vatican and German bishops. In March, both sides announced they would work together to resolve the controversial German Synodal Way. 

Shortly after, further steps toward a permanent council were implemented: CNA Deutsch, CNA’s German-language news partner, reported that the statutes for a synodal committee were approved at a meeting of the country’s 27 diocesan bishops in April.

As Neuer Anfang pointed out on Thursday, canon lawyers called into question this approval.

In an interview with the Catholic journal Communio published in May, Heribert Hallermann, chair emeritus of canon law in Würzburg, called the move “unlawful and invalid” and a violation of “canon law and the bishops’ conference’s own statutes.”

“The resolutions of the Synodal Way and the Synodal Committee have less binding legal effect than the resolution of a rabbit breeders’ association,” Hallermann continued.

“The fact that the Synodal Way itself has continually violated its own statutes is another matter.”

Even earlier, another professor of canon law, Norbert Lüdecke, questioned the body’s legitimacy in a piece for Herder Korrespondenz.

No support from priests, laypeople

German Catholics generally do not support the controversial project launched in 2019.

Despite applying pressure tactics to push through the multimillion-dollar project, the Synodal Way has not only failed to convince German priests, but also prominent female participants have abandoned the polarizing process.

Outside of Germany, Pope Francis, cardinals, theologians, and many bishops around the world have called into question the event’s premise, approach, and resolutions.

At the same time, most German Catholics reportedly are indifferent to the expensive exercise.

According to CNA Deutsch, a survey in September 2020 showed that only 19% of Catholics agreed with the statement that the Synodal Way was of interest to them. The vast majority of Germans responded in the negative.

Since then, participants not only discussed but also passed a raft of resolutions demanding the Church adopt transgender ideology, women’s ordination, and other controversial goals.

Proceedings and resolutions were justified on the basis of the MHG Study, an investigation of clerical sexual abuse in the Catholic Church in Germany.

As CNA Deutsch reported, at least one respected medical expert raised concerns about the study as early as 2018.

Following the publication of a Protestant study in January, the group Neuer Anfang called into doubt the “persistent narrative of the Synodal Way attributing systemic causes of abuse to specifically Catholic factors.”

Pope Francis speaks to priests of the Diocese of Rome at the Pontifical Salesian University on June 11, 2024. / Credit: Vatican Media

Rome Newsroom, Jun 12, 2024 / 13:00 pm (CNA).

During a private meeting with priests on Tuesday, Pope Francis reportedly once again used a derogatory slur to refer to gay men while arguing that there is a gay culture in the Vatican.

The pope, quoting himself, recalled a conversation in which he said “there is an air of faggotry” in the Vatican, according to the Italian website Silere Non Possum (Latin for “I cannot be silent”). The website on Wednesday published a transcript of Francis’ remarks on the subject. The website does not cite the source of the quotations.

“What I said on this issue: If a young man wants to enter the seminary and has a homosexual tendency: stop him,” Francis reportedly said in response to a question about seminaries and vocations.

“This is something that the Dicastery for the Clergy has said and I support, because today the homosexual culture has progressed so much and there are good young men who want the Lord, but it’s better not to [admit them to seminary], better not to.”

“Once a monsignor who works in the Vatican said to me, ‘Your Holiness, I want to say something, I am concerned about the gay culture in here,’” the pope continued, according to Silere Non Possum.

“I said, ‘Yes, there is an air of faggotry. It’s true, there is in the Vatican. But look, monsignor, today it is an honorific for our culture. Let us be careful, not to despise people with homosexual tendencies but to accompany them, there are so many good people.

“‘Accompany them, help them. Send them to psychologists. Please, however, be careful about accepting them in the seminary.’”

It is the second time in recent weeks that the pontiff has reportedly used the Italian slur “frociaggine,” which translates to “faggotry” or “faggotness” in reference to homosexual tendencies. 

Late last month, Holy See spokesman Matteo Bruni issued an apology after the pope used the term in reference to seminaries during a private meeting with Italian bishops on May 20.

Several prominent Italian news outlets also reported that the pope had used the derogatory term at the June 11 meeting, including ANSA, which cited sources present at the pope’s closed-door meeting with approximately 160 priests at the Pontifical Salesian University in Rome on the afternoon of June 11.

In an official communication June 11, the Vatican said Francis had spoken to priests “of the danger of ideologies in the Church and returned to the issue of the admission of people with homosexual tendencies to seminaries.”

The Vatican said the pope reiterated “the need to welcome them and accompany them in the Church and the prudential indication of the Dicastery for the Clergy regarding their entry into the seminary.”

The statement did not specify which indication from the Dicastery for the Clergy the Holy Father was referring to.

The pope’s meeting with priests ordained between 11 and 39 years ago was the third and final in a recent series of encounters with the priests of Rome. The first with older priests took place on May 14 and the second with priests ordained under 10 years took place on May 29.

After each of the closed-door meetings, the Vatican provided information summarizing the pontiff’s dialogue, including only select and short quotations.

The Vatican also distributed official photos of the events but no video, audio, or complete text of the pope’s words during the question-and-answer sessions were provided.

A Vatican News report of the June 11 meeting with priests also contained no direct quotes from Francis except to say that he called Rome “mission territory.”

Italian newspaper Il Messaggero reported this week on recent restrictions on information provided to Vatican-accredited journalists about Pope Francis and his speeches.

A closed-circuit audio feed to the Holy See Press Office, which previously allowed journalists to listen in to many of the pontiff’s smaller audiences, has been cut, and advance copies of papal speeches are only being provided in limited cases.

Vatican journalists on June 10 lodged a formal objection to the change, which the Vatican has not explained.

Bearded former punk band guitarist Father Giulio Vannucci and former policeman Father Michele Di Stefano flank Bishop Giovanni Nerbini following their June 8, 2024, ordination to the Catholic priesthood. / Credit: Diocese of Prato, Italy

ACI Prensa Staff, Jun 12, 2024 / 07:00 am (CNA).

The Cathedral of Prato, Italy, was the setting last Saturday for the ordination of a former punk band guitarist and policeman.

Father Giulio Vanucci, who has long hair and a beard and who earlier in life was part of the group i Quanti, a local punk band, was ordained along with Father Michele Di Stefano, a former police officer, by the bishop of Prato, Giovanni Nerbini.

“The Lord has not chosen administrators or supermen but simple and always generous people,” Nerbini said in his homily at the ordination Mass.

Vanucci, 38, was born in the town of Pistoia. Of his punk band past, he told the Italian newspaper Avvenire it was “a period in which I had a lot of fun and that I do not regret.” 

During the past eight years, Vanucci has worked as a bricklayer in a Catholic housing apostolate. “For me, being a priest means putting oneself even more at service, it means taking care of everything and everyone,” Vannucci said.

The other priest, Father Michele Di Stefano, 39, is a former police officer in the town of Bardonecchia. He completed his priestly formation in Florence.

“Today is not a goal achieved but rather the beginning of a new path, even an exhausting one,” Di Stefano said. “But I am sure that I am not alone and that I have God’s help. My intention is to be close to people who suffer, who feel alone,” said Di Stefano, who was accompanied by several policemen who were former colleagues of his.

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.

A man receives his ballot for the European elections in a polling station in The Hague on June 6, 2024, on the first day of the European Parliament election. / Credit: Nick Gammon/AFP via Getty Images

CNA Newsroom, Jun 11, 2024 / 14:45 pm (CNA).

Amid political tensions across the continent following the weekend European Parliament elections, the Commission of the Bishops’ Conferences of the European Union (COMECE) has issued a statement commenting on the preliminary results of the 2024 elections.

While acknowledging the democratic exercise involving over 370 million voters across 27 countries, COMECE underscored the pressing issue of persistent voter disengagement and the alarming rise of nationalist, Euroskeptic parties.

The Federation of Catholic Family Associations in Europe on June 5 issued a toolkit in light of concerning developments, including pro-family policies.

The provisional election results show that the European People’s Party maintains its position as the largest bloc in Parliament, with 185 seats, followed by the center-left Renew Europe group, which has 79 seats.

However, migration-critical parties on the right made notable gains, particularly in founding EU member states like France and Italy.

In Germany, the center-right CDU/CSU emerged as the top party with 30% of the vote, but the far-right Alternative für Deutschland surged to second place with 15.9%, a development that has alarmed German Church leaders.

According to CNA Deutsch, CNA’s German-language news partner, Bishop Franz-Josef Overbeck of Essen warned that the “strengthening of right-wing populist forces” is a wake-up call to “defend our democracy with all our strength.”

Meanwhile, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s Brothers of Italy party triumphed, but voter turnout slipped below 50%.

Italian bishops, led by Cardinal Matteo Zuppi of Bologna, had encouraged active participation in the elections to shape Europe’s future.

French bishops likewise saw the far-right National Rally winning 32% of votes in their nation, eclipsing President Emmanuel Macron’s Renaissance party. Similar parties gained ground in several other EU states as well.

Despite the decisive shift to the right, COMECE noted that pro-EU parties were still set to hold a majority in the new Parliament.

The bishops called on newly elected members of European Parliament and future European commissioners “to work to reduce the perceived gap between the European Union and its citizens and to give adequate answers to their real concerns.”

Unfettered mass migration will be a crucial concern, and the EU election results come at a pivotal time for the Catholic Church’s engagement in European politics.

Just days before the vote, a minor controversy erupted in Italy after Zuppi appeared to criticize the government’s proposed constitutional reforms, La Repubblica reported. Meloni curtly reminded the cardinal that “the Vatican is not a parliamentary republic.”

French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife, Brigitte Macron, exit a polling booth adorned with curtains displaying the colors of the flag of France before casting their ballot for the European Parliament election at a polling station in Le Touquet, northern France, on June 9, 2024. / Credit: HANNAH MCKAY/POOL/AFP via Getty Images

CNA Staff, Jun 11, 2024 / 12:45 pm (CNA).

France’s controversial euthanasia bill has been put on hold following French President Emmanuel Macron’s dissolution of the country’s National Assembly after major losses in this month’s European elections.

The June elections in the European Parliament saw major advances from right-of-center parties, including from France’s National Rally party, which made huge gains relative to Macron’s Renaissance party.

Centrist groups still command a majority in the continental parliament. But the results were devastating enough to mainstream politicians that Macron invoked French law to dissolve his own country’s National Assembly in order to hold “snap elections” in the hopes of shoring up centrist control of France itself.

The surprise move means all legislation currently under consideration in France has been put on hold, including the country’s controversial assisted suicide bill, which Macron earlier this year said might allow “the possibility of asking for help in dying under certain strict conditions.”

The French bishops had criticized the country’s efforts to legalize assisted suicide. Reims Archbishop Éric de Moulins-Beaufort said earlier this year that the measure would “shift our entire health care system toward death as a solution.”

Lille Archbishop Laurent Le Boulc’h likewise warned that assisted suicide could hasten the death of individuals who see themselves as burdens upon others, arguing that the proposal risks “further increasing the depressed character of our society in loss of hope.”

Numerous European countries, including Belgium and the Netherlands, already allow various forms of assisted suicide and euthanasia.

France’s surprise parliamentary elections will be held in two rounds on June 30 and July 7.

Workers in Rome discovered a centuries-old skeleton during a June 2024 construction dig near the Vatican for one of the building projects for the Catholic Church’s 2025 Jubilee. / Credit: Daniel Ibañez/CNA

Rome Newsroom, Jun 11, 2024 / 10:15 am (CNA).

Workers in Rome have discovered a centuries-old skeleton during a construction dig near the Vatican for one of the building projects for the Catholic Church’s 2025 Jubilee.

The skeleton was unearthed during excavations to create an underground motorway near Castel Sant’Angelo, which will create a pedestrian-only road leading up to St. Peter’s Basilica.

An initial investigation found that the bones likely date back to sometime between 1600-1800, according to Italian media reports. Additional analyses are planned by Italy’s archaeological authority.

Construction on the site has continued as planned after the skeleton was removed, according to Rome’s public works department. 

Workers face a tight deadline on one of the most ambitious construction projects underway in Rome in preparation for the Jubilee Year. 

The more than $86 million project in Piazza Pia will connect Castel Sant’Angelo — a historic structure originally built by the Roman Emperor Hadrian but later used as a papal fortress — to St. Peter’s Square, moving the former busy motorway completely underground.

Rome’s Mayor Roberto Gualtieri told EWTN that he thinks the transformation of Piazza Pia will turn it into “one of the most beautiful squares in the world.”

Pope Francis has proclaimed that the “Jubilee of Hope” will begin on Christmas Eve 2024. The Vatican and the city of Rome are expecting an estimated 35 million people to flock to the Eternal City for the first ordinary jubilee since the Great Jubilee of 2000.

With more than 350 works planned around the ancient city in preparation for the 2025 Jubilee, there could be other unexpected archaeological discoveries. 

Three human skeletons were found during construction works in 2019 on a subway station in Rome and were later found to date back to the first century B.C.

Archbishop Tadeusz Wojda was named president of the Polish bishops’ conference on March 14, 2024. / Credit: Silar, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

CNA Newsroom, Jun 11, 2024 / 09:30 am (CNA).

The Polish Bishops’ Conference has issued a letter opposing a political push to legalize abortion, stressing that “no one, in the name of personal freedom, has the right to decide on the life of another human being.”

The letter on the protection of life, approved during the 398th Plenary Assembly of the Polish Bishops’ Conference in Warsaw, comes amid growing pressure from lawmakers to dismantle Poland’s strong pro-life protections.

On April 12, Polish lawmakers voted to move forward with proposals to lift the near-total ban on abortion in the traditionally Catholic country, AP reported.

Among the proposed changes, two bills aim to legalize abortion through the 12th week of pregnancy. Another proposal seeks to decriminalize assisting women who procure abortions, which is currently a punishable offense.

The bishops assert that “the life of a new and unique human person begins at conception, that is, the fusion of the cells of the mother and the father. From that moment on, every human being should have the full right to the protection of life.”

The Polish prelates also quote St. John Paul II from his encyclical Evangelium Vitae: “There can be no true democracy without a recognition of every person’s dignity and without respect for his or her rights” (EV, 101).

The bishops point out that the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights, and the Polish Constitution and statutory provisions protect everyone’s right to life, calling it “an elementary principle inscribed in human nature which must not be violated.”

Expressing concern over attempts to legalize “the killing of the child in the womb,” the bishops deem it “extremely dangerous for public safety” and urge all people of goodwill to oppose such efforts.

The letter emphasizes that “as shepherds of the Catholic Church in Poland, and at the same time citizens of our country, we have the right and duty to remind — both the faithful of the Catholic Church and all people of goodwill — that we are obliged to respect human beings, especially the weakest and defenseless.”

The letter echoes a letter by Polish physicians from February in which Catholic doctors call on Prime Minister Donald Tusk “to stop activities aimed at making abortion available in Poland.”

The bishops also highlight the importance of loving families and the lasting marriage of parents in protecting unborn life. They pay tribute to mothers who protect their children in difficult situations and call on fathers to fulfill their commitment to the legal protection of human life.

Even if the proposed bills pass through the Polish Parliament, they would likely face a veto from President Andrzej Duda, a committed Catholic who remains in office until the summer of 2025.

Last month, Duda vetoed a bill that would have made the “morning-after pill” available over-the-counter to women and girls 15 and older.

The bishops’ letter will be read in Polish churches on Sunday, June 16. The bishops thanked those who serve life and asked everyone to “steadfastly and sacrificially defend the gospel of life” and pray for the protection of life as the debate over abortion rights continues to divide the nation.

The Archbishop of Burgos, Mario Iceta, was appointed Pontifical Commissioner in the case. / Credit: Archdiocese of Burgos, Spain

ACI Prensa Staff, Jun 10, 2024 / 17:30 pm (CNA).

The Ecclesiastical Court of the Archbishopric of Burgos in Spain has formally accused the Poor Clare nuns of the Monastery of Belorado with schism, launching proceedings that could soon result in the excommunication of the renegade nuns. 

The accused nuns themselves posted on social media the letter received from the court to this effect. The letter, addressed to Sister María Sión de la Trinidad, cites the referenced mother superior to appear before the court to testify about the schismatic positions the nuns made public last month. The letter warns the Catholic religious that, if they maintain these positions, they are subject to being convicted of the crime of schism, punishable by excommunication in accordance with the Code of Canon Law.

The court’s letter specifies that both the nuns’ so-called Catholic Manifesto and alleged letter of schism, signed by Sister Isabel de la Trinidad, as well as their letters requesting guardianship and acceptance by the excommunicated false bishop Pablo de Rojas “constitute the crime of schism, typified in the Code of Canon Law in accordance with Canon 751, the penalty for which is provided for in Canon 1364 § 1 and which entails expulsion from consecrated life.”

Canon 751 defines schism as “the rejection of subjection to the Supreme Pontiff or of communion with the members of the Church subject to him.”

The Archbishopric of Burgos established a period of 10 calendar days from receipt of the decree to appear before the court. If the cited sister is not accompanied by a lawyer, one will be assigned to her ex officio so she “can exercise her right of defense by expressing her position” on what has taken place. 

If she does not appear within that period, “the corresponding decree will be issued, in accordance with the law,” that will establish the penalty associated with the crime of schism, which is excommunication “latae sentenciae.”

The group of Poor Clares responded through their social media account on Instagram, stating that “our Catholic manifesto and our subsequent statements are clear and should have had the automatic consequence of our exclusion from the scope of application of canon law.” In addition, they accuse the archbishop of Burgos, Mario Iceta, of having “usurped” their legal representation “by accessing the administration of the properties and the control of the bank accounts, to which we stopped having access on June 4.” 

Presence of the archbishop’s envoys in Belorado

On May 29, the Holy See appointed Iceta as pontifical commissioner.

According to the Archbishopric of Burgos, on June 6, three people sent by the pontifical commissioner visited the Monastery of Santa Clara de Belorado “in order to establish some line of dialogue and dialogue with the nuns, particularly with the older ones.”

The delegation included Sister Carmen Ruiz, secretary of the Federation of Poor Clares of Nuestra Señora de Aránzazu, Rodrigo Sáiz in representation of the Pontifical Commissioner, and Carlos Azcona, notary of the ecclesiastical court, “responsible for transmitting the pertinent notifications of this court regarding the opening of the canonical process corresponding to the declaration of abandonment of the Catholic Church” and notary María Rosa Garrido.

Summarizing the visit, the archbishopric reported that the former abbess of the community, Sister Isabel de la Trinidad, made it known through Sister Belén and Sister Sión that, except for Garrido, “the others ‘were not well received’ in the monastery and that they should leave.” 

For the archbishopric, both the complaint filed by the Poor Clares against Iceta as well as its ratification in the courts, in addition to the response to the June 6 visit, “can be interpreted as gestures of hostility that manifest the null intention of the community to establish any dialogue with the person designated by the Holy See and his team. Even so, the pontifical commissioner maintains his desire to build bridges and find appropriate ways to reach a solution.”

The nuns, for their part, maintained: “It is really difficult for us to classify all these events as signs of patience and dialogue.”

Since the decrees were delivered by hand on June 6, the deadline for Sister Sión to appear to testify in court is Sunday, June 16. 

Not all the nuns face excommunication

There are 15 nuns left in the Belorado Monastery after the departure of Sister Amparo, who decided to leave last month “so as not to belong to that sect.” 

On May 15, 10 of the sisters defended their position on television. Five have not spoken publicly. These are the older ones, whom the archbishopric considers outside the sedevacantist manifesto and the schismatic declaration.

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.

Three attacks against the Rome headquarters of the Italian pro-life center Pro Vita & Famiglia have taken place in the last month alone. / Credit: Pro Vita & Famiglia

ACI Prensa Staff, Jun 10, 2024 / 16:30 pm (CNA).

The pro-life Italian association Pro Vita & Famiglia has denounced another attack against its headquarters in Rome.

A spokesman for the organization reported that on June 6 a female protester, accompanied by a cameraman from the Italian news agency ANSA and a leftist candidate for the European Parliament, attempted to plaster the organization’s headquarters building with a pro-abortion poster.

“We immediately went out to the street, removed the poster, and warned the woman and the others present not to continue painting the premises, urging them to keep their distance while the police were called,” said Jacopo Coghe, spokesman for the organization.

The protester responded with ideological slogans in favor of abortion and claimed her “freedom of expression” was being violated and “her art was being censored.”

A video posted on YouTube below documented the incident.

The provocateurs did not withdraw until police arrived. Coghe said the incident was the 13th act of vandalism against the Pro Vita & Famiglia office in less than three years and the third in just over a month.

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.

Cardinals Christoph Schönborn and Gerhard Ludwig Müller. / Credit: Daniel Ibáñez/CNA

CNA Newsroom, Jun 10, 2024 / 13:45 pm (CNA).

Shortly after Pope Francis opposed the possibility of an ordained female diaconate, two German-speaking cardinals publicly have said that only men can be ordained to the priesthood.

“Women cannot be called to this office,” Cardinal Gerhard Ludwig Müller told Swiss portal kath.ch on June 7. “The priest represents Christ in his manhood.”

The German cardinal, who held the role of prefect of the Congregation — now Dicastery — for the Doctrine of the Faith from 2012 to 2017, stressed the theological and doctrinal underpinnings of this view, saying the prohibition of women from priestly ordination is deeply ingrained in the sacrament itself.

Müller, who taught dogmatic theology at Munich’s Ludwig Maximilian University, emphasized “the fundamental equality of all people in their personal relationship with God,” be they man or woman.

Just like “a man cannot become a mother and a woman cannot become a father,” it is only men who are called to the priesthood, Müller said, according to CNA Deutsch, CNA’s German-language news partner.

“The vocation comes from God. One would have to complain to God himself that he created human beings as man and woman.”

Echoing the words of Pope Francis about the nature of the Church in Querida Amazonia, Müller emphasized that the “Church cannot be represented by a man because she is female and Mary, the Mother of God, is her archetype. It is in the nature of the sacrament that only a man can represent Christ in relation to the Church.”

The German prelate’s pronouncements follow those of Cardinal Christoph Schönborn, archbishop of Vienna, CNA Deutsch reported.

In a sermon at ITI Catholic University in Austria on June 1, Schönborn said he was “deeply convinced that the Church cannot and must not change this, because it must keep the mystery of women present in an unadulterated way.”

“We were all born of a woman. This will always be reflected in the mystery of the Church.”

Like Müller, Schönborn affirmed St. John Paul II’s teaching that the ordination of women would violate a fundamental ecclesiological principle.

In 1994, Pope John Paul II, citing the Church’s traditional teaching, declared in the apostolic letter Ordinatio Sacerdotalis:

“Wherefore, 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.”