This Egg on the Face Won't Wash Off

Apparently, even some men in the Vatican have had second thoughts about the recent document that put pedophilia in the same category of crimes as the “attempt to ordain a woman.”

Msgr. Charles Scicluna, who works in the Vatican’s doctrinal department, said on Friday, July 16th that these “crimes” are not comparable under canon law.
"They are in the same document but this does not put them on the same level or assign them the same gravity," said Scicluna. He called sexual abuse a “crime against morality,” and the “attempt” to ordain a woman a “crime against a sacrament.” He did not mention that they are both called “delicta graviora.”

It’s evident that the Vatican has egg all over its theological face with this one. And they’re trying to clean it up.

But it won’t wash. They’ve let too much out of the bag. The original statement told us in new language what they really think about women. Their ridiculous comparison of women’s ordination with pedophilia was actually released to the media, apparently without anyone’s questioning it, and no one in the Vatican pulling it back.

And once again, they’ve exposed their deepest fears to the world. They clearly fear women’s leadership, and want to hang on to male power. And at one level, they might well be fearful. Women are becoming leaders in the world of religion in multiple roles and in faith traditions across the board.

I’ve just published a new book documenting that growing leadership. It’s called Breaking Through the Stained Glass Ceiling: Women Religious Leaders in Their Own Words.