Independent, international news agency on the Catholic Church, Zenit, reported on the Pope’s General Audience on March 25, in which he defended a male only priesthood. This was his argument, translated into English: “Since the Apostles are called to faithfully preserve the Master’s salvific teaching (cf. 2 Tim 1:13–14), they hand on their ministry to men who, until Christ’s return, continue to sanctify, guide and instruct the Church “through their successors in pastoral office”.
So his argument seems to be that the priesthood is passed on from the apostles, that this is necessary to preserve the true teaching of salvation, and that a vital part of that is their gender, that somehow masculinity is an essential part of succession from apostlehood to priesthood. He gives no explanation of why gender is so important, when presumably other characteristics of the apostles – such as their age, nationality, physical fitness, sexuality perhaps, or whatever are not essential in the same way. Instead he merely states that it is so.
Dear reader, do you find this a compelling argument? I do not. Leo seems to me to be a very good Pope, unafraid to speak out on controversial matters and ready to follow in the liberal footsteps of his predecessor. So I am puzzled that he is content with such a weak line of argument on a matter as serious as this.
Read the article in Zenit here.