Paragraph 1598 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church states: “The Church confers the sacrament of Holy Orders only on baptised men”. So, only men can be ordained bishops, priests or deacons.

In Inter Insigniores (dated October 15, 1976, but released the following January), the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith says: “The Church, in fidelity to the example of the Lord, does not consider herself authorised to admit women to priestly ordination”. That declaration was published with the approval of Pope Paul VI.

In Ordinatio Sacerdotalis (May 22, 1994) Pope John Paul II says: “We 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”.

In October 1995, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith addressed certain doubts concerning the nature of the teaching in Ordinatio Sacerdotalis.

It says: “This teaching requires definitive assent, since, founded on the written Word of God, and from the beginning constantly preserved and applied in the Tradition of the Church, it has been set forth infallibly by the ordinary and universal Magisterium”.

The International Theological Commission published a document with evidence that there is no historical basis for the sacramental diaconate being bestowed on women.

In September 2001, the Prefects of the Congregations for the Doctrine of the Faith, of Divine Worship, and of Clerics prepared a document, approved by John Paul II, in which they affirmed that “it is not licit to put in place initiatives which in some way aim to prepare female candidates for diaconal ordination”.

On May 29, 2008, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith decreed that whoever “shall have attempted to confer Holy Orders on a woman” – including necessarily the diaconate – “as well as the woman who may have attempted to receive Holy Orders, incurs a latae sententiae excommunication.”