Questions / The Church and the Pope

Why can't women be priests?

Church teaching

Answered on video by Bishop Robert Barron

Video: Why Won't Catholicism Allow Women Priests? (#AskBishopBarron), Bishop Robert Barron, published May 19, 2009. Checked 10 October 2026. Loads from YouTube (privacy-enhanced mode) only when you press play. Watch on YouTube

In short: The Church follows the choice Jesus and the apostles made: only a baptized man can receive ordination. It’s about fidelity, not worth. CCC 1577

The answer, in writing

Church teaching

“Only a baptized man validly receives sacred ordination.” CCC 1577

The Lord Jesus chose men to form the Twelve, and the apostles did the same when they chose their successors; the Church considers herself bound by this choice. CCC 1577

Our words

This isn’t about worth. The greatest human person in the Church’s eyes is a woman, Mary, and she wasn’t a priest either.

Watch another on this

Play video: Fr. Mike Schmitz Answers the Internet's Top Questions About Priests, Fr. Mike Schmitz, from Ascension Presents, 9 min. Loads from YouTube when pressed.

What should priests be like?

Play video: Why Can Some Catholic Priests Marry? Discipline vs. Doctrine, Jimmy Akin, from Jimmy Akin, 10 min. Loads from YouTube when pressed.

Why can't priests marry?

Play video: Should Catholics Call Priests Father?, Ascension Presents, from Ascension Presents, 7 min. Loads from YouTube when pressed.

Why do Catholics call priests Father?

Next step: Start the Protestant journey

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Related questions

Why does the Church have a Pope? Ascension Presents · 13 minDoes the Church say people outside it cannot be saved? Catholic Answers · 3 minI was baptized in another church. Will I be baptized again? Catholic Answers · 3 minWhat should priests be like? Fr. Mike Schmitz · 9 min

Sources on this page

How we know · 1 Catechism paragraph

1. Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraphs 1577 (official text on vatican.va).

Stone & Incense restates Church teaching in plain words and cites every teaching claim. Our own wording is not an official Church text. Found a mistake? Report an errorCorrections.