olena
08-05-2002, 05:38 PM
VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Reinforcing its opposition to female priests, the Vatican said Monday it had excommunicated seven women, including a nun, who were ordained in June in a ceremony on a boat in Austria.
An Argentine bishop, not recognized by the Holy See, ordained the Austrian, German and U.S. women in a ceremony, witnessed by 300 people.
This prompted a warning from the Vatican last month, giving the women 12 days to repent.
"Because the women ... did not give any indication of amendment or repentance for the most serious offence they had committed...they have incurred excommunication," Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, a papal right-hand man, said in a press release from the Vatican.
He had earlier branded the ordination "an affront to the dignity of women," saying women had a specific role in the church which was distinctive and irreplaceable.
An Argentine bishop, not recognized by the Holy See, ordained the Austrian, German and U.S. women in a ceremony, witnessed by 300 people.
This prompted a warning from the Vatican last month, giving the women 12 days to repent.
"Because the women ... did not give any indication of amendment or repentance for the most serious offence they had committed...they have incurred excommunication," Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, a papal right-hand man, said in a press release from the Vatican.
He had earlier branded the ordination "an affront to the dignity of women," saying women had a specific role in the church which was distinctive and irreplaceable.