VATICAN CITY (RNS) — Early on, Pope Leo XIV signaled support for women’s leadership in the Catholic Church, but a new Vatican decision released on Tuesday (June 23) barring laypeople, including women, from preaching the homily at Mass is testing how far that openness is likely to go.
“ … It is not possible … to permit, in exceptional circumstances, a duly commissioned lay member of the faithful to preach in place of the homily during the celebration of the Eucharist,” read the statement published by the Vatican Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, which oversees liturgy for the Catholic Church.
The document referred to a letter sent by the president of the German Bishops’ Conference, Bishop Heiner Wilmer, dated June 17, which asked to allow laypeople — including women — to preach the homily at Mass.
The Vatican stated that the homily at Mass is exclusively “entrusted to ordained ministers through the Sacrament of Holy Orders” and is tied to the nature of the liturgy. It also noted that under canon law, laypeople have other avenues for proclaiming the gospel, including catechesis and preaching outside of Mass.
As a missionary and later bishop in Peru, the future pope reportedly encouraged women lay leaders to offer reflections during Ma …