Pope Francis changes the Code of Canon Law to institutionalize what is already allowed in practice: the access of lay women to the service of the Word and the Altar. The pope explained his decision in a letter to Cardinal Ladaria.
The Vatican News
With a Motu proprio launched on Monday, Pope Francis has established that from now on the ministries of Lector and Acolyte will be open to women, in a stable and institutionalized form through a specific mandate.
There is nothing new about women who proclaim the Word of God during liturgical holidays or who perform an altar service as altar servants or as Eucharistic ministers. In many communities around the world, these practices are already authorized by local bishops.
However, so far, this has taken place without a true and proper institutional mandate, as an exception to what Pope St. Paul VI established when, in 1972, even while abolishing so -the so-called “minor orders”, he decided to maintain that access to these ministries should be granted only to the people, because both were considered preparatory for the eventual admission to the holy orders.
Now, as a result of the discernment that has emerged from the last Synods of Bishops, Pope Francis wanted to formalize and institutionalize the presence of women at the altar.
Common baptism
With his own Motu the spirit, which amends the first paragraph of Canon 230 of the Code of Canon Law, Pope Francis therefore establishes that women can have access to these ministries and that this can be recognized by a liturgical act that formally establishes them as such.
Pope Francis states that he wanted to meet the recommendations that emerged from various synodal assemblies, writing that “a doctrinal development has been reached in recent years that has revealed how certain services instituted by the Church are based on the common condition of being baptized by the royal priesthood received in the Sacrament of Baptism ”.
Therefore, the Pope invites us to recognize that what is at stake are secular ministries “fundamentally distinct from the ordained ministry which is received through the Sacrament of Holy Orders.”
The new wording of the canon states: “Lay people who possess the age and qualifications established by decree of the conference of bishops can be admitted stably through the liturgical rite prescribed at the ministries of the lecturer and acolyte.” Therefore, the specification “lay” which qualifies lay and present in the Code until today’s amendment is therefore abolished.
Part of the renewal of Vatican II
Motu proprio is accompanied by a letter addressed to the prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Cardinal Luis Ladaria, in which Pope Francis explains the theological motivations behind his decision.
The Pope writes that “in the spectrum of renewal drawn by the Second Vatican Council, the urgency is felt more and more today to rediscover the co-responsibility of all those baptized in the Church and the mission of the laity in a certain place. about. “
And, quoting the Final Document of the Synod for the Pan-Amazonian region, the Pope notes that “as far as the whole Church is concerned, in different situations, it is urgent that services for men and women be promoted and conferred … baptized women that we need to strengthen, promoting forms of ministry and, above all, an awareness of the dignity of baptism. “
Lay people and evangelism
In a letter to the cardinal, after recalling the words of St. John Paul II that “in terms of ordained services, the Church has no power to confer priestly ordination on women,” Pope Francis added that “regarding the services disorderly, it is possible, and today it seems appropriate, to exceed this reserve. “
The Pope explains that “in order to offer lay people of both sexes the opportunity to access the ministries of the Acolyte and the Lecturer, by virtue of their participation in the priesthood of the baptized, awareness will increase, through a liturgical (institutional) act such as which many lay people, including women, have been offering for some time to the life and mission of the Church ”. He concludes that “the decision to confer these functions even on women, which requires stability, public recognition and a mandate from the bishop, will make more effective the participation of all in the work of evangelization.”
Mutual collaboration
This provision comes after a broad theological reflection on these ministries.
Post-conciliar theology has, in fact, recovered the relevance of the services of the Lecturer and the Acolyte, not only in relation to the ordained priesthood, but also, and especially, in relation to the priesthood of the baptized.
These ministries are situated in the dynamics of mutual collaboration that exists between these two priests, and their specific “secular” nature has become more and more pronounced, in connection with the priesthood exercised by all those baptized by virtue of their baptism.
The entire article, including quotes attributed to Pope Francis, is a functional translation of the Italian original.