At the Gregorian University, where I taught theology between 1973 and 2006, I valued Luis Ladaria as a teacher, writer, colleague, and vice-rector. He stood tall as acting dean of theology when the incumbent died suddenly. But, with all respect to his person, record, and his present office, I want to raise some questions about his article in L’Osservatore Romano on 30 May.

Cardinal-designate Ladaria, Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, recalls that when Pope St John Paul II taught in his apostolic letter, Ordinatio Sacerdotalis of 22 May 1994, that priestly ordination is limited to male Christians, he did not teach ex cathedra. John Paul II was not solemnly defining a revealed doctrine on his own authority as infallible.