Cardinal Jose Policarpo of Lisbon has issued a statement clarifying
remarks he made on the ordination of women during an interview with the
Portuguese Order of Lawyers.
In the statement published on July 6, Cardinal Policarpo said, “Reactions to this interview have forced me to look at this issue with greater care, and I realized that I provoked them, above all because I did not take into sufficient account the latest statements of the Magisterium on this issue.”
In the statement published on July 6, Cardinal Policarpo said, “Reactions to this interview have forced me to look at this issue with greater care, and I realized that I provoked them, above all because I did not take into sufficient account the latest statements of the Magisterium on this issue.”
The cardinal said that review led him to clearly explain his position “as bishop and pastor of the People of God.”
Cardinal Policarpo’s statement comes after a source at the Portuguese
Bishops’ Conference—who asked to remain unidentified because of the
sensitivity of the situation—told CNA the cardinal does not in fact
support the ordination of women, although “he was not accurate in
speaking about the priesthood during a recent interview.”
The source clarified that the reports claiming that the Patriarch of
Lisbon is a supporter of women’s ordination are based on “deliberately
selective excerpts from an interview that in itself was unclear.”
Cardinal Policarpo, who was elected president of the Bishops’
Conference of Portugal in 2011, “tried to explain Catholic teaching on
the priesthood to a secular media outlet unfamiliar with Catholicism,”
the source added.
“The outcome of the interview was not great, but to conclude that he
was supporting the ordination of women is an exaggeration and even a
distortion of what he said.”
In his July 6 statement of clarification, the Portuguese cardinal
quoted Blessed John Paul II’s Apostolic Letter, Ordinatio Sacerdotalis,
in which the pontiff stated: “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.”
“Not conferring the apostolic priesthood on women through priestly
ordination is a tradition that is rooted in the New Testament, in Jesus
Christ himself and in the way in which he laid the foundations of his
Church,” the cardinal continued.
“The issue of the ordination of women to the apostolic priesthood has
emerged recently, especially in Western countries, because of various
factors,” such as “movements promoting women” or “an understanding of
the ministerial priesthood as a right and a power.”
“The difference in ministries does not diminish the dignity of the
mission” women have, and the impossibility of being ordained “does not
mean a minimizing of women, but rather it is intended to complement the
differences between males and females, which is fully realized in the
relationship between Christ and Mary.”
Cardinal Policarpo concluded, “we are invited to adhere to the
Magisterium of the Holy Father, in the humility of our faith, and we
will continue to study in depth the relationship of the ministerial
priesthood to the priestly nature of the entire People of God and to
discover the feminine way of building the Church, in the decisive role
of the mission of women.”
“During this year in which I celebrate the 50th year of my priestly
ordination-- a great manifestation of God’s kindness towards me--I
wanted to issue this clarification to the faithful of my diocese. It
would sadden me if my words were to cause confusion in our adherence to
the Church and the teaching of the Holy Father,” the cardinal said.
“I believe I have clearly shown you that communion with the Holy
Father is an absolute part of the exercise of my ministry,” he said.
The full statement in Portuguese can be found at http://www.patriarcado-lisboa.pt/site/index.php?id=904