If the Church contradicts itself on central issues of the faith, everything is up for discussion. And the so-invoked “spirit” is no longer anything more than the spirit of the masters.
With the approval of Pope Leo XIV, on March 10, 2026, the Holy See published a disturbing document titled «The Participation of Women in the Life and Governance of the Church». The document was prepared by the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith.
It is not a matter of determining whether the laity can exercise the power of governance in the Church. As the title already indicates, this topic is addressed rather from the perspective of the possibility that women can exercise the power of governance. Therefore, it is not seeking a theological analysis of the mission of the laity. Rather, it is about the intention to grant women a supposed «gender justice». This already demonstrates that the interest is not theological, but ideological. A criterion foreign to the issue is the motivation for the attempt to modify the doctrine of the Church.
The document is not only disconcerting but also revealing. In fact, in the past it has been repeatedly stated that the appointment of a «prefect» of the Dicastery for Religious constituted an exceptional case. The Pope, in his capacity as holder of the supreme primatial authority, would have conferred that position in a unique manner. This procedure would not, therefore, be applicable to dioceses and parishes. However, the document emphasizes several times that the Pope’s action constitutes a «model» for the universal Church (Second Part, II, nn. 20, 25 and 28 b.). It would be about implementing something similar in the particular Churches, for example, through episcopal «delegates» equivalent to the vicar general. The assertion that it would be solely the special case of the Roman Curia was, therefore, a fake news.
The verdict is unequivocal: the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith distances itself from the Second Vatican Council and takes a step back with respect to it. The last Council resolved the issue, which had been pending since the Council of Trent, regarding the theological nature of episcopal consecration. And with that, it also clarified in its function as the Magisterium of the Church the question of the possibility of conferring the power of governance on the laity. According to the clarification given by the last Council, the bishop is not the priest perfected juridically, since he would already have received the fullness of the sacrament of orders. Rather, it is the episcopal consecration itself that confers the fullness of the sacrament of orders. And with the office of sanctifying, it also transmits the offices of teaching and governing (Lumen Gentium [= LG], n. 21). The sacrament of orders therefore confers an «ontological participation» in the sacred offices. Pope Paul VI clarified this in the «Nota explicativa praevia», which is an integral part of the LG (n. 2). The government of the Church therefore finds its foundation in the sacrament and is subsequently specified in law, insofar as the Pope assigns to a bishop, and the bishop to a priest, through legal instruments, a concrete task in which they exercise their sacramental gift, including that of governance. To the laity, and not only to women, the decisive requirement for exercising the power of governance is therefore lacking.
If we now examine the document of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, the situation becomes strange. Its publication takes place in the context of a «Synod of Bishops». However, the highest form of synodality is an ecumenical council. Yet, the Second Vatican Council is not even cited by the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith in the main text regarding the issue of «Potestas sacra» (Second Part, II.). This only occurs in Appendix V. But this has no repercussions on the discourse of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith. Moreover, the doctrine of the Council is defined by the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith as a «line of thought» and as a «point of view» of the authors (Appendix V, nn. 18‒20). The Second Vatican Council is therefore placed, according to the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, on the same level as the opinions of theological schools.
Once the magisterium of the Second Vatican Council has been declared de facto non-binding in this way, the question arises of how it can be justified that the laity can exercise the power of governance. Unlike what the Second Vatican Council established, the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith no longer considers that the capacity (ability) for it resides solely in the sacrament of Orders, but also in baptism and in the charisms of the Holy Spirit.
Continue reading at Infovaticana