Pope Francis has changed Article 230, paragraph 1 of the Code of Canon Law, to allow women to exercise the stable ministry of reader and acolyte, a role hitherto reserved for men, thus giving them functions in the altar.
Francis explained in the apostolic letter ‘Spiritus Domini’ in the form of Motu Proprio, published this Monday by the Holy See’s Press Office, that his decision is the result of a “doctrinal development” which has been given in recent years, which distinguishes certain ministries for which one must have been ordained a priest, of others the sole condition is to be baptized.
“Lay ministries, based on the sacrament of Baptism, can be entrusted to all the faithful who are suitable, male or female,” the Holy Father has clarified.
Thus the new statement of the ecclesial norm is the following: “The laity who have the age and conditions determined by decree of the Episcopal Conference, can be called for the stable ministry of reader and acolyte, by means of the prescribed liturgical rite without it, the collation of these ministries does not give them the right to be sustained or remunerated by the Church. “
With this new instruction from Bergoglio, women will be able to act as acolyte, who is that person who, without having clerical orders, can act in extraordinary situations as a minister, administering the Eucharist and performing functions at the altar. In the past this ecclesial role was already open to lay men.
Its function, which is different from that exercised by schoolchildren, has traditionally been to collaborate with the presbyter or deacon in Mass and other celebrations of the liturgy. In special situations, they may even give communion if there are a large number of communers or if the minister is absent.
For its part, the role of the reader has always been necessary because the scriptures of the Old and New Testaments have always been read in the church either during the Mass or in the other offices. The ministry of the reader requires a double instruction: biblical and liturgical.
The Vatican has specified in an editorial published in its media that the fact that women read the Holy Scriptures during liturgical celebrations or perform “an altar service” is nothing new. “In many communities around the world they are already a practice authorized by the bishop,” the editorial reads. While these realities occurred without a “true institutional mandate,” according to the Vatican.
The pontiff has made this decision after, in several Synodal Assemblies, where the bishops of the Church meet to debate on certain subjects, the “necessity to deepen doctrinally in this argument” has been demonstrated to offer support for evangelization.
For example, the Synod on the Amazon held in October 2019 proposed new ways of evangelization to overcome the geographical challenges of this territory of more than 7 billion square kilometers, characterized by difficult access to the places where communities live. indigenous people.
In some areas, in fact, missionaries and religious in the area can take up to three days to reach through rivers; and the lack of priests prevents these communities from accessing the Eucharist.