The Vatican issued updated rules Thursday that make it easier to punish sex-abuser Catholic priests, but also include new edicts on other particularly "grave" crimes against church law, including heresy, violating the seal of confession, and — controversially — ordaining women as priests. That last "crime" set off sparks, especially in the U.S., where a majority of Catholics favor admitting women to the priesthood. Is the Vatican really saying that ordaining women is as "grave" as pedophilia? (Watch a CNN report about the new Vatican rules)
Yes, and it will haunt them: Putting "women's ordination in the same category as pedophiles and rapists is appalling," says Erin Saiz Hanna of the Women's Ordination Conference, in The Washington Post. The only reason to claim that a female priest "defiles" the Church at the same level as the "sexual predators in its ranks" is to keep Catholic women in their place. Well, the Vatican's "scare tactics" won't work.
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