Cardinal José da Cruz Policarpo of Lisbon, Portugal, a veteran
European prelate at one point considered a contender for the papacy,
reportedly has said there’s “no fundamental theological obstacle” to the
ordination of women as priests in the Catholic church.
According to the text of an interview with a legal publication in Portugal called Oa,
Policarpo said that women’s ordination will happen only “when God wants
it,” although not in our lifetimes, and that now is not the time to
raise the question.
“Theologically there is no fundamental obstacle,” Policarpo was
quoted as saying. “We could say there’s a tradition, because it’s never
been done.”
“There’s a fundamental equality among all the members of the church,”
the cardinal said.
“The problem lies in a strong tradition, which comes
from Jesus and from the fact that the churches of the Reformation
conceded the priesthood to women.”
Those comments were highlighted over the weekend by “Vatican
Insider,” a new on-line news source on the Catholic church operated by
the Italian newspaper La Stampa.
Policarpo’s claim that there is no theological bar to women priests
would seem to be at odds with various recent Vatican declarations.
In 1994, Pope John Paul II issued the document Ordinatio sacerdotalis reaffirming
the ban on women priests.
A subsequent clarification released by the
Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith under then-Cardinal Joseph
Ratzinger asserted that the teaching on “has been set forth infallibly
by the ordinary and universal magisterium," and therefore belongs to the
"deposit of faith."
More recently, Pope Benedict XVI referred to the teaching as
“infallible” in a letter informing Australian Bishop William Morris of
the Toowoomba diocese that he had been removed from office, in part for
raising the question of women’s ordination in a 2006 pastoral letter.
Policarpo also reportedly said that the debate over women’s
ordination is to some extent a “false problem,” because the same young
women who put the question to him usually demur when he asks if they
themselves would be willing to become priests.
Policarpo, 75, has been the Patriarch of Lisbon since 1998. Although
he has reached the usual retirement age for bishops, Benedict XVI
recently confirmed him in office for another two years.
A former dean of the theology faculty at the Portuguese Catholic
University, Policarpo was considered by some a dark-horse candidate for
the papacy during the late John Paul years.
He is generally seen as a
theological and political moderate, and a bridge-builder between the
church in Europe and in Latin America.
The text of the interview with Policarpo, in Portuguese, may be found here.