An independent American Catholic newspaper has called outright for the Vatican to reverse its centuries-old ban on the ordination of women.

The National Catholic Reporter (NCR) stated in an editorial: "Catholic women who have discerned a call to the priesthood and have had that call affirmed by the community should be ordained in the Roman Catholic Church. Barring women from ordination to the priesthood is an injustice that cannot be allowed to stand." The paper argued that "the majority of the faithful" agreed with this position.

The editorial charted the hardening of the Vatican's position against women's ordination in recent decades, citing Pope John Paul II who in 1994 said the Church "has no authority whatsoever" to ordain women. They also quoted a 1995 Tablet article in which American Jesuit Fr Francis A Sullivan argued that the pope's words in that instance were not infallible teaching.

Above: Supporters of women's ordination in Anaheim, California. Photo: Roman Catholic Womenpriests