Ordination of women deemed a 'crime against the faith'

The ordination of women as Roman Catholic priests is a "crime against the faith," the Vatican said as it issued a raft of new disciplinary rules.

Cases of "attempted ordination of women" will henceforth be handled by the Vatican's doctrinal watchdog, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, a Vatican statement said.

The new rules put attempts at the ordination of women among the "most serious crimes," along with paedophilia.

They update a 2007 CDF decree according to which those who attempt to ordain women - and the women concerned - are subject to automatic excommunication.

The US-based Women's Ordination Conference, an advocacy group, dismissed the decision as "mediaeval at best" and a "scare tactic".

The update was prompted by "fear of our growing numbers", the group said in a statement.

"The Vatican is using this attempt to extinguish the widespread call for women's equality in the Church," it added.

The Vatican on Thursday also issued new rules on the handling of sex abuse cases.

It ordered quicker investigations of paedophile priests and extended the statute of limitations by 10 years to 20 years after the victim's 18th birthday.

Vatican spokesman Fr Federico Lombardi underscored how the ordination of women is "a crime against sacraments," while paedophilia should be considered a "crime against morals".

In May, an Austrian Catholic bishop said the Church should rethink ordaining women in the wake of the widespread paedophilia scandal.

Eight Roman Catholic activists staged a demonstration in favour of women's ordination in St Peter's Square in June.

They asked Pope Benedict XVI to open the ranks of priests to women to renew the Church and solve a chronic shortage of priests around the world.