Ordination of women and the Catholic Church

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Christianity and gender
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Ordination of women in Christianity Ordination of women in Catholicism Ordination of women in Protestantism (Anglican • Methodist • Presbyterian)
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Organizations Feminist Evangelical and Ecumenical Women's Caucus Egalitarian Christians for Biblical Equality Complementarian Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood Patriarchal Vision Forum (defunct)
Theologians and authors (by view) Feminist Anne Eggebroten Grace Jantzen Virginia Ramey Mollenkott Letha Dawson Scanzoni Egalitarian Gilbert Bilezikian Greg Boyd Gordon Fee Kevin Giles Stanley Grenz Kenneth E. Hagin Paul Jewett Roger Nicole Frank Stagg William J. Webb Complementarian Don Carson John MacArthur Susan Foh John Frame Wayne Grudem George W. Knight III Albert Mohler Douglas Moo Jennifer Morse Dorothy Patterson Paige Patterson John Piper Vern Poythress Douglas Wilson
Theologians and authors (by branch) Roman Catholic Hildegard of Bingen Julian of Norwich Catherine of Siena Christine de Pizan Juana Inés de la Cruz Edith Stein Pope John Paul II Phyllis Zagano Eastern Orthodox Frederica Mathewes-Green Protestant April Ulring Larson Catherine Booth Lise-Lotte Rebel Katharine Jefferts Schori
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In the liturgical traditions of the Catholic Church, the term ordination refers to the means by which a person is included in one of the holy orders of bishops, priests or deacons. The teaching of the Catholic Church on ordination, as expressed in the 1983 Code of Canon Law, the Catechism of the Catholic Church, and the apostolic letter Ordinatio sacerdotalis, is that only a Catholic male validly receives ordination,^[1] and "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."^[2] In other words, the male priesthood is not considered by the church a matter of policy but an unalterable requirement of God. As with priests and bishops, the church ordains only men as deacons.^[3]

The Catholic News Service reports that the church does not ordain anyone who has undergone sex reassignment surgery and gives a "recommendation of psychiatric treatment and spiritual counseling" for people who are transsexual, contending that these are an indicator of "mental instability".^[4]