Vatican rejects proposal to allow sermons by Catholic women

The Vatican has reaffirmed its rule that only ordained priests or deacons can give sermons at Catholic masses, rejecting a request from German bishops to allow sermons by women or laypeople.

The Vatican ​on Tuesday reaffirmed a long-standing rule ​that only an ordained ‌priest or deacon ​can give a sermon at a Catholic mass, rejecting a request from German bishops to broaden the ‌practice and allow sermons by women or other laypeople.

"The current discipline cannot be dispensed from," said a release from the Vatican's Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline ‌of the Sacraments, which oversees worship by the world's 1.4 billion Catholics. Many Catholic ‌masses include a sermon, where a priest or a deacon offers a reflection on the day's Bible readings. The German bishops' conference had asked earlier this year for permission for laypeople to ⁠also ​offer sermons. The German ⁠request echoed sentiments from many bishops in the U.S. and other European countries, who say many ⁠laypeople are as capable of preaching as priests. They often cite a desire to hear ​sermons from women, who cannot be ordained in the Catholic Church.

The Vatican ⁠did not provide its full response to the German bishops, only a press release summarizing its ⁠decision. "The ​reservation of the homily to a priest or deacons is not a merely disciplinary norm but derives from the very nature of the liturgy," the ⁠release said.

The Catholic Church teaches that during a mass, a priest acts "in persona ⁠Christi" (in the person ⁠of Christ), and it is God who acts through the priest during worship. Laypeople are allowed to give sermons at prayer ‌services outside ‌of a mass.