Regarding the Crime of
Attempting Sacred Ordination of a Woman
by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith
The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, to protect the nature
and validity of the sacrament of holy orders, in virtue of the special
faculty conferred to it by the supreme authority of the Church (see
canon 30, Canon Law), in the Ordinary Session of December 19, 2007, has
decreed:
Remaining firm on what has been established by canon 1378 of the Canon
Law, both he who has attempted to confer holy orders on a woman, and
the woman who has attempted to receive the said sacrament, incurs in
latae sententiae excommunication, reserved to the Apostolic See.
If he who has attempted to confer holy orders on a woman or if the
woman who has attempted to receive holy orders, is a member of the
faithful subject to the Code of Canon Law for the Eastern Churches,
remaining firm on what has been established by canon 1443 of the same
Code, they will be punished with major excommunication, whose remission
remains reserved to the Apostolic See (see canon 1423, Canon Law of the
Eastern Churches).
The current decree will come into immediate force from the moment of
publication in the 'Osservatore Romano' and is absolute and universal.
William Cardinal Levada Prefect
Angelo Amato, S.D.B. Titular Archbishop of Sila Secretary