Catholic Church won’t survive without ordaining women, cardinal warns

By Leonardo Blair, Senior Reporter Thursday, March 26, 2026

Unless the Catholic Church breaks its 2,000-year tradition of ordaining only men to the priesthood, Archbishop of Luxembourg Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich doesn’t believe it “can continue to exist.” And the majority of Catholic women agree with him, he claims.

“I cannot imagine how a church can continue to exist in the long run if half of the people of God suffer because they have no access to ordained ministry,” Hollerich said during a recent symposium in Bonn, Germany, according to The Catholic Herald.

“As a bishop, I have also learned that this is not just a demand of some left-leaning women’s groups,” he added. “When I speak with women in parishes, 90% share the same opinion.”

The Catholic Church’s Code of Canon Law prohibits the ordination of women to the priesthood, stating “A baptized male alone receives sacred ordination validly.” There has been much discussion about expanding the role of women in the Catholic Church recently. 

While it recognized the outsized role of women in the church, the Final Report of Study Group 5, focusing on “Women’s participation in the life and leadership of the Church,” published by the General Secretariat of the Synod earlier this month, did not support the idea of ordaining women for leadership.

It calls, however, for expanded, non-ordained roles for women in Church governance and leadership.

“The question of women’s access to the diaconate did not yet appear sufficiently mature, all things considered and as maintained by Pope Francis himself; yet the opportunity remained open to continue the work of deeper study on the role of women in the leadership of communities and on other possible avenues of participation,” the report states.

The report acknowledges that, in addition to playing an essential and often undervalued majority role in the life of the Church, those contributions are undervalued and under-recognized.

It makes clear that leadership roles for women in the church can be expanded in sacramental roles.

“It is important to reiterate this point: alongside the sacramental path and distinct from it, there is also a charismatic path that can be fruitfully pursued to open new spaces of participation for the lay faithful, particularly for women,” the report says. “It follows that even in the exercise of governance within a Diocese, opportunities of this kind may arise and should be employed.”

Despite his position on the ordination of women in the Catholic Church, Hollerich acknowledges that it isn’t universal. He applauded the ongoing efforts to expand women’s roles within the current framework of the church, which will continue to advance under Pope Leo XIV.

“It would be my deepest wish that the whole Church rejoices in this,” Hollerich said.

The comments from the Jesuit cardinal come as Bishop Johan Bonny of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Antwerp, Belgium, announced plans last week to ordain married men to the priesthood by 2028, despite the Roman Catholic Church’s requirement of clerical celibacy.

“The question is no longer whether the Church can ordain married men as priests but when it will do so, and who will do it,” Bonny wrote in a pastoral letter claiming that “the consensus on this question is almost total” among Church leaders. “Any delay comes across as an excuse.”