The Vatican declared “attempted ordination” of women to be one of the Catholic Church’s gravest crimes this morning, asserting that it is a “crime against the faith” under their new disciplinary rules, according to Agence France-Presse. Under the new rules, attempted ordination of women is in the same category as clerical sex abuse of minors, heresy and schism. The new rules state that those who attempt to ordain women and women who seek ordaination will automatically be excommunicated. Since the Church does not accept women as priests, the outcome of such ceremonies will not be recognized by the Church, according to the Guardian. This move, which appears to permanently bar women from Catholic priesthood, comes shortly after the Church of England took its first steps towards the ordination of female bishops, and may be seen as another attempt by the Catholic Church to sway traditionalist Anglicans to convert to Catholicism. The Vatican also updated the Church’s sexual abuse guidelines in response to clerical sex abuse scandals. These new internal rules make it easier to discipline priests who sexually abuse minors and the mentally handicapped, by doubling the statute of limitations from 10 to 20 years after the victims 18th birthday, according to the New York Times. The new rules make no mention of the need for bishops to report clerical sex abuse to police, provide no sanctions for bishops who cover up for abusers and do not include any “one-strike and you’re out” policy for pedophile priests as demanded by some victims, according to the Associated Press.
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