The shortage of priests and the prospect of a future without vocations, namely in Europe, seems worrisome and dark. According to some, the solution seems to be at hand: the ordination of ‘women priests.’ A project the Church has classified under a conclusive category: impossible.
Newsroom (20/01/2022 5:46 PM, Gaudium Press) Priestly vocations are becoming more and more scarce. According to the 2021 Pontifical Yearbook, baptized Catholics represent approximately 18% of the world’s population: about 1.345 million.
Although between 2018 and 2019, the number of priests worldwide increased slightly, in Europe, it decreased by 1.5 %.
Vocations to the priesthood also dropped: from 115,880 in 2018 to 114,058 in 2019. And while, in Africa, the number of seminarians grew by more than 500, in Europe, again, the plunge was significant: the number of seminarians in 2019 fell by 3.8 %.
The shortage of priests and the prospect of a future without vocations, namely in Europe, seems worrisome and dark.
According to some, however, the apparent solution seems to be at hand: the ordination of ‘women priests.’ So in times of crisis, certain Media is keen to fan at all costs the embers of a project the Church has labelled with a conclusive category: impossible.
Ideologic Media
Last January 16, for example, the Spanish newspaper El Mundo and EFE agency released a suggestive video: “The women ‘priests’ of Catalonia.”
In the report, El Mundo covers the story of “Six ‘laywomen in pastoral mission’ performing ‘substitutions’ in the absence of enough ordained priests, providing religious services in cities around Catalonia and leading liturgical celebrations, using consecrated Hosts so that no one is left without Mass.”
In short, the piece documents the shortage of priests in several Catalonian dioceses and emphasizes the support given by these women, maintaining church life.
Suddenly, a little spice is thrown into the mix: “they are gaining influence also from the pulpit.” Then, one of the women takes the lead to say that “the Church has two outstanding issues that would bring younger people together: on the one hand, ordaining women priests; on the other hand, celibacy. It should not be obligatory but voluntary.” In a matter of minutes, El Mundo plainly derails from controversial to bluntly toxic.
The character not only reveals that she would like to be a ‘woman priest’: she also reveals her utter ignorance in regards to the dogma and the history of the Church.
Let’s explain. The Church has said ‘no’ to the ordination of women – and the decision is final. Yet, this teaching should be understood as the Church’s fidelity to the legacy of Christ and not as any kind of animosity towards the beloved, respected and devout members of the fair sex.
It was not this decadent century that “discovered” the importance of the role of women in the Church. Indeed, this fundamental role in the Church has been recorded since apostolic times. Increasingly, the richness of Mary’s essential part in the history of salvation is being discovered and highlighted in their historical, transcendental and even metaphysical connotations.
As the Sacred Author tells, “there is nothing new under the Sun.” The flattening winds of egalitarianism sweeping vast sectors of contemporary society also want to monopolize the Church.
However, let’s convey a truth: it will not be the Media that will teach Christ and His Mystical Bride how to get organized in their Salvific mission.
Again, vocations to the priesthood are scarce. Yet, let’s convey one more truth: there was a time when there were only 12 priests in the whole world.
By Saúl Castiblanco
