Christ did not call women to be priests—Pope

From MICHAEL WILSON in ROME Pope Paul rejected any possibility that women could become ordained ministers of the Catholic Church when speaking in private audience to a committee studying the Church's response to the 1975 International Women's Year here.
He told them that Our Lord's call to women to be "disciples and collaborators" but not ordained ministers could not be changed by the Church.
"If women did not receive the call to the apostolate of the Twelve and therefore to the ordained ministry, they are, however, invited to follow Christ as disciples and collaborators," he added.
"We cannot change the behaviour of Our Lord or his call to women, but we must recogniseand further the role of women in the mission of evangelisation and in the life of the Christian Community."
The Pope spoke in French to the group of women, which included members of the Vatican Commission studying the role of women in society and the Church, and also members of various Vatican committees.
He reminded them that "some particularly gifted women" had been called upon to work in the Vatican, but he was cautious when he said: "It goes without saying that these new experiences need to mature."
He rejected the so-called hard-line demand for what has often been called "Women's liberation," and which offers "Utopian programmes conceived by an elite for an elite." But he praised a "progressive development which does not burn up the road — one of wise discernment."
He continued: "The matter is delicate. To speak of equality of rights does not resolve the problem, which goes much deeper. Men and women must bring their own richness and dynamism into building a world that is not only equal and uniform but made harmonious and unified.'
Pope Paul told the committee: "The true promotion of
women demands progress corresponding to the real needs of people so that they may walk together towards opportune and realistic goals."
He said the most urgent work needed now lay in the area of feminine awakening and advancement at the grassroot level, "Millions of women do not enjoy essential rights or essential respect. There is so much to do in this field."
He spoke of what he saw as the chief goal of this international year of woman. "It is trying to assure woman's full integration into the global development effort and their increasing contribution to the building up of peace between men and peoples . . .
"Christian women have an irreplaceable role to play in world peace, in the family as educators, in all sectors of society . . . Without this contribution we are convinced . . . that progress will not be fully human."