(Pillars of Faith) — Images and reports have been circulating showing an Anglican woman “bishop” offering a gesture of blessing within the precincts of St. Peter’s Basilica. For many among the faithful, this has not been a moment of unity, but a source of deep confusion and sorrow.
As a successor of the Apostles, I am bound to speak – not with harshness, but with clarity born of charity.
The Catholic priesthood is not a human creation. It is a divine gift instituted by Our Lord Jesus Christ, entrusted to the Church, and safeguarded through the centuries with fidelity and sacrifice. The priest, by sacramental ordination, is configured to Christ in a unique and irreplaceable way, acting in persona Christi Capitis, especially in the offering of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.
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For this reason, the Church has definitively taught that she has no authority to confer priestly ordination on women. This teaching is not a matter open to change, adaptation, or reinterpretation. It belongs to the deposit of faith.
Because the Eucharist is the true representation of the Sacrifice of Calvary, the priest stands in the person of Christ the Bridegroom, who offers Himself for His Bride, the Church. This nuptial mystery is not symbolic – it is sacramental and real. Any gesture that obscures this truth, or blurs the distinction between valid Holy Orders and those communities that do not possess them, risks weakening the faithful’s understanding of the Eucharist itself.
Because of this, the Church has always guarded with the greatest care both the priesthood and the sacred words of the Eucharist. The priest does not speak at the altar as a mere representative of the community, but in persona Christi Capitis – in the very person of Christ the Head – so that when he says, “This is My Body … This is My Blood,” it is Christ Himself who speaks and acts. If this reality is obscured, or if the form of the sacrament were altered in a way that no longer clearly expresses Christ acting through the priest, the faithful could be led into grave confusion, and the integrity of the sacrament itself could be called into question. For this reason, the Church MUST guard with reverence and fidelity both the reality of the priesthood and the sacred form entrusted to her by Christ.
It may be said that no Eucharistic celebration took place in this instance, and that what occurred was merely a gesture of blessing. Yet even this cannot be considered lightly. Public gestures within sacred spaces carry real meaning. When a person who does not possess valid Holy Orders is received in a manner that appears to affirm or honor a ministerial role she cannot hold, it risks giving the impression that such orders are recognized or interchangeable with the Catholic priesthood.
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This is a source of confusion for the faithful and a cause of legitimate concern. True charity requires clarity. Respect for persons must never be allowed to obscure the truth about the sacramental reality of Holy Orders, which the Church has received from Christ and does not have the authority to alter.
For this reason, I urge the faithful not only to remain steadfast, but to respond with prayer and reparation. When confusion touches what is most sacred – when the priesthood and the Eucharist are obscured – the proper response to the faithful is not silence, but love expressed through sacrifice.
I ask you, therefore:
- To spend time in Eucharistic adoration
- To pray the Holy Rosary with renewed fervor
- To offer acts of penance and reparation to the Sacred Heart of Jesus
- To intercede for priests, that they may be faithful to their sacred identity
- And to pray for the Church, that she may be purified and strengthened in truth
Christ has not abandoned His Church.
Even in times of trial, He remains present in the Eucharist – the same yesterday, today, and forever. The truth of the priesthood remains intact, not because of human strength, but because it is rooted in Him.
Let us respond, then, not with despair, but with fidelity. Let us cling to Christ, love His Church, and pray for her purification and renewal.
May the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of the Eternal High Priest, intercede for us, that the priesthood may be renewed in holiness and that the Eucharist may always be adored with the reverence it deserves.
Bishop Joseph E. Strickland
Bishop Emeritus
Reprinted with permission from Bishop Strickland’s Pillars of Faith.
