VATICAN CITY (LifeSiteNews) — Close papal advisor Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich, S.J., has once again suggested that the Catholic Church could open its doors to a female priesthood. He also argued that when “Church teaching was made” there was no concept of homosexuality, in an attack on Catholic teaching against about sodomy.
Hollerich: ‘With time’ female ordination could occur
The lengthy interview Hollerich granted to the Croatian news outlet Glas Koncila was published on March 27 and covered an extensive range of topics. When questioned on the role of women in the Church, Hollerich revealed that in his Archdiocese of Luxembourg “a woman is in charge of all formation.”
Praising her performance, Hollerich added he had “entrusted her to preach for the pilgrims to our cathedral as well, in complete accordance with the canon law because it was outside of Mass.”
The cardinal — recently appointed as one of Pope Francis’ Council of Cardinals — initially rejected the idea of female priests, saying that by involving more women in “making decisions and taking responsibility … I do not mean priesthood.”
READ: Pope Francis names pro-LGBT Cdl. Hollerich to select group of advisors
Continuing, Hollerich initially affirmed his opposition to a female priesthood, saying that “Pope Francis does not want the ordination of women, and I am completely obedient to that.”
Noting that the subject continues to be discussed, Hollerich outlined that “I am not a promoter of the ordination of women; I am a promoter of giving women more pastoral responsibility.”
However, he added that following an increase in such “pastoral responsibility,” the topic of female ordination could perhaps be revisited: “And if we achieve that, then we can perhaps see if there still is a desire among women for ordination.” A pre-requisite for any change in implementing a female priesthood would require the “consent of the Orthodox Church,” said Hollerich.
We could never do that if it would jeopardize our fraternity with the Orthodox or if it would polarize the unity of our Church. Love is not something abstract; it is the love for our sisters and brothers that prevents us from doing things that would alienate them.
Pushing the matter further, Hollerich argued that Pope Francis could overturn Pope John Paul II’s 1994 apostolic letter Ordinatio sacerdotalis, in which the Polish Pope firmly declared not simply that the Church would not change its teaching, but that it could not. “I declare that the Church has no authority whatsoever to confer priestly ordination on women and that this judgment is to be definitively held by all the Church’s faithful,” wrote John Paul II.
Hollerich, questioned about whether Francis could “decide against” this document, replied: “With time, yes.” He defended this by stating that Ordinatio sacerdotalis was not “infallible teaching,” despite the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) declaring such teaching to be infallible.
Describing the teaching of the male-only priesthood as “a true teaching for its time” which “we cannot just push … aside,” Hollerich continued by saying that “there might be some space to expand the teaching – to see which of the arguments of Pope John Paul II could be developed. But for the moment, if Pope Francis tells me it is not an option, it is not an option.”
However, in 2018 the current prefect of the CDF, Cardinal Ladaria Ferrer S.J., defended the teaching of Ordinatio sacerdotalis as bearing the mark of “infallibility,” with John Paul II having “formally confirmed and made explicit, so as to remove all doubt, that which the Ordinary and Universal Magisterium has long considered throughout history as belonging to the deposit of faith.”
Ferrer noted that:
The Church does not have the power to change this substance, because it is precisely from the sacraments, instituted by Christ, that the Church is made. It does not pertain only to a disciplinary element, but a doctrinal one, inasmuch as it pertains to the structure of the sacraments, which are the original place of encounter with Christ and of the transmission of the faith.
Hollerich’s comments earned him the disapproval of Providence’s Bishop Thomas Tobin, who wrote that the cardinal “should” know the truth of Catholic teaching on the matter.
The teaching of the Catholic Church on a male-only priesthood is not an arbitrary theory of John Paul II that can be discarded. It’s a firm and clear teaching of the Church based on the ministry and example of Our Lord Jesus. Cardinal Hollerich, S.J. knows that. Or he should.
— Bishop Thomas Tobin (@ThomasJTobin1) March 28, 2023
Hollerich falsely claims homosexuality ‘did not exist’ when Catholic teaching ‘was made’
While being known for his promotion of female ordination, Hollerich is also notorious for his support of LGBT ideology, having described as “false” the Church’s denouncement of homosexual acts as sinful. He renewed this support in the interview with Glas Koncila.
Hollerich argued that “when Church teaching was made, the term homosexuality did not even exist.” Declaring that “homosexuality is a new word,” he claimed that contemporaries of St. Paul “had no idea that there might be men and women attracted to the same sex.”
He argued that “sodomy was seen as something merely orgiastic at the time, typical of married people who entertained slaves for personal lust.”
Hollerich affirmed his support of pro-LGBT arguments, questioning “how can you condemn people who cannot love except the same sex? For some of them it is possible to be chaste, but calling others to chastity seems like speaking Egyptian to them.”
Yet as ancient Roman and Greek historians record, far from being unknown, the practice of homosexuality was well-known and often widely practiced. In his letter to the Romans, St. Paul condemns such actions as “shameful affections.”
Then in his first letter to the Corinthians, St. Paul states that homosexual actions are sinful, explaining that neither sodomites nor “fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers” will “inherit the kingdom of God,” but rather, according to his letter to the Romans, that people who practice homosexuality will receive “in their own persons the due penalty for their error.”
Despite this Scriptural teaching, Hollerich repeated his assertion that Catholic doctrine on homosexuality being “intrinsically disordered” was “a bit dubious.”
“We can only charge people with moral conduct they can bear in their world,” he responded, when asked if those with homosexual inclinations did not have to practice chastity. “If we ask impossible things of them, we will put them off. If we say everything they do is intrinsically wrong, it is like saying their life has no value.”
Meanwhile, the Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches that “homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered” and “contrary to the natural law.” The catechism is very clear that homosexual activity can never be approved and repeats that “[h]omosexual persons are called to chastity.”
The CDF’s 1986 document “On the pastoral care of homosexual persons,” further states that a “truly pastoral approach will appreciate the need for homosexual persons to avoid the near occasions of sin.” The CDF admonished bishops to ensure they, and any “pastoral programme” present in the diocese, are “clearly stating that homosexual activity is immoral.”
READ: The ‘Synodal Way’ wants to reverse Catholic teaching on homosexuality. Here’s why that’s impossible