(LifeSiteNews) — Bishops may not force priests to accept women or girls as altar servers.
A recently unearthed document from the then-Congregation for Divine Worship and Discipline of Sacraments, signed by the late Cardinal Jorge Arturo Medina Estévez in 2001, makes it clear that priests are not obliged to be served by “altar girls.”
Bishops cannot force priests to use altar girls.
In 2001, under St. Pope John Paul II, the Vatican ruled: Bishops… “may not exclude boys from the altar, NOR REQUIRE THAT PRIESTS OF THE DIOCESE WOULD MAKE USE OF FEMALE ALTAR SERVERS”
That ruling still stands. Priests have the… pic.twitter.com/Wr8nixL8rj
— John-Henry Westen (@JhWesten) May 30, 2025
Cardinal Medina Estévez was responding to a dubium from a bishop enquiring if a diocesan bishop could order his priests to admit women and girls to altar service. While agreeing that “the Diocesan Bishop, in his role as moderator of the liturgical life in the diocese entrusted to his care, has the authority to permit service at the altar by women within the boundaries of his care,” the cardinal cautions that “such an authorization may not … require that priests of the diocese would make use of female altar servers[.]”
It also forbids the exclusion of men and, “in particular,” boys from altar service and stresses that programs encouraging altar service among boys are well-known for producing priestly vocations:
In accord with the above cited instructions of the Holy See such an authorization may not, in any way, exclude men or, in particular, boys from service at the altar, nor require that priests of the diocese would make use of female altar servers, since “it will always be very appropriate to follow the noble tradition of having boys serve at the altar” (Circular Letter to the Presidents of Episcopal Conference, March 15, 1994, no. 2). Indeed, the obligation to support groups of altar boys will always remain, not least of all due to the well-known assistance that such programs have provided since time immemorial in encouraging future priestly vocations (cf. ibid.) [Full letter below.]
The emergence of female altar servers after the Second Vatican Council was a novelty difficult to suppress, and, in 1994, Pope John Paul II officially permitted their activities. However, bishops remained free to restrict altar service, previously fulfilled by seminarians in minor orders, to men and boys.
Concerns that bishops may use their power to discourage Catholic traditions that have sustained the faithful and encouraged vocations to the priesthood broke out once again this week as it was discovered through a leaked document that Bishop Michael T. Martin of Charlotte, North Carolina, wished to root out traditional or otherwise pious practices popular among Catholics in his diocese. The bishop had already caused a firestorm by deciding to suppress worship through the Traditional Latin Mass; the new document, which was later called “only a draft,” indicated that the bishop also had the reverent celebration of the Mass of Paul VI in his sites.
READ: Charlotte bishop denounces Latin, altar rails, kneeling in leaked letter
The full letter is as follows:
July 27, 2001
Your Excellency,
Further to recent correspondence, this Congregation resolved to undertake a renewed study of the questions concerning the possible admission of girls, adult women and women religious to serve alongside boys as servers in the Liturgy.
As part of this examination, the Dicastery consulted the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts which replied with a letter of July 23, 2001. The reply of the Pontifical Council was helpful in reaffirming that the questions raised by this Congregation, including the question of whether particular legislation could oblige individual priests in their celebration of the Holy Mass to make use of women to serve at the altar, do not concern the interpretation of the law, but rather are questions of the correct application of the law. The reply of the aforementioned Pontifical Council, therefore, confirms the understanding of this Dicastery that the matter falls within the competence of this Congregation as delineated by the Apostolic Constitution Pastor Bonus, § 62. Bearing in mind this authoritative response, this Dicastery, having resolved outstanding questions, was able to conclude its own study. At the present time, therefore, the Congregation would wish to make the following observations.
As is clear from the Responsio ad propositum dubium concerning can. 230, § 2, and its authentic interpretation (cf. Circular Letter to the Presidents of Episcopal Conferences, Prot. n. 2482/93 March 15, 1994, see Notitiae 30 [1994] 333-335), the Diocesan Bishop, in his role as moderator of the liturgical life in the diocese entrusted to his care, has the authority to permit service at the altar by women within the boundaries of the territory entrusted to his care. Moreover his liberty in this question cannot be conditioned by claims in favor of a uniformity between his diocese and other dioceses which would logically lead to the removal of the necessary freedom of action from the individual Diocesan Bishop. Rather, after having heard the opinion of the Episcopal Conference, he is to base his prudential judgment upon what he considers to accord more closely with the local pastoral need for an ordered development of the liturgical life in the diocese entrusted to his care, bearing in mind, among other things, the sensibilities of the faithful, the reasons which would motivate such a permission, and the different liturgical settings and congregations which gather for the Holy Mass (cf. Circular Letter to the Presidents of Episcopal Conferences, March 15, 1994, no. 1).
In accord with the above cited instructions of the Holy See such an authorization may not, in any way, exclude men or, in particular, boys from service at the altar, nor require that priests of the diocese would make use of female altar servers, since “it will always be very appropriate to follow the noble tradition of having boys serve at the altar” (Circular Letter to the Presidents of Episcopal Conference, March 15, 1994, no. 2). Indeed, the obligation to support groups of altar boys will always remain, not least of all due to the well known assistance that such programs have provided since time immemorial in encouraging future priestly vocations (cf. ibid.)
With respect to whether the practice of women serving at the altar would truly be of pastoral advantage in the local pastoral situation, it is perhaps helpful to recall that the non-ordained faithful do not have a right to service at the altar, rather they are capable of being admitted to such service by the Sacred Pastors (cf. Circular Letter to the Presidents of Episcopal Conferences, March 15, 1994, no. 4, cf. also can 228, §1, Interdicasterial Instruction Esslesiae de mysterio, August 15, 1997, no. 4, see Notitiae 34 [1998] 9-42). Therefore, in the event that Your Excellency found it opportune to authorize service of women at the altar, it would remain important to explain clearly to the faithful the nature of this innovation, lest confusion might be introduced, thereby hampering the development of priestly vocations.
Having thus confirmed and further clarified the contents of its previous response to Your Excellency, this Dicastery wishes to assure you of its gratitude for the opportunity to elaborate further upon this question and that it considers this present letter to be normative.
With every good wish and kind regard, I am, Sincerely yours in Christ,
Jorge A. Card. Medina Estévez
PrefectMons. Mario Marini
Under Secretary
