Women's Ordination

Can women be ordained as priests in the Catholic Church?

No, women cannot be ordained as priests in the Catholic Church.

Several Church documents — for instance, Pope John Paul II's 1994 apostolic letter Ordinatio Sacerdotalis and Pope Paul VI's 1976 Declaration Inter Insigniores — outline the reasons why the Church does not consider itself authorized to ordain women.

In brief, the documents say that Jesus freely and intentionally chose only men to be Apostles, and that the Church, throughout its history, has considered itself obliged to follow this example by ordaining only men to the ministerial priesthood.

Style notes:

Reporters should be careful to explain, in stories about purported Catholic women's ordination ceremonies, or when referring to women who say they have been ordained as Catholic priests, that the Catholic Church considers such ordinations invalid.

Assuming the publication you're writing for allows each church to be the final authority on who is and who isn't ordained in that church, you likely will want to avoid identifying any woman as a "Catholic priest"; rather, you should use a phrase such as "self-described Catholic priest" that makes it clear that the Catholic Church rejects that description.