Catholic Bishop of Mainz open to ordaining women and female bishops

The Bishop of Mainz, Peter Kohlgraf, has shown himself open to the appointment of a female bishop - but linked this with a big if. In a double interview with the Catholic theologian Dorothea Sattler in "Christ & Welt", a supplement of the weekly magazine "Zeit", Kohlgraf said: "I could imagine a female bishop like Sattler if this were well regulated by the universal church" - i.e. by the Vatican for the entire Catholic Church. Up to now, the ordination of priests and bishops has been reserved exclusively for men.

The universal church as a central authority plays an important role in the discussion about the Synodal Way, a discussion process in the Catholic Church in Germany, which will begin in 2019. A forum in this conversation process, led by Sattler, a theologian from Münster, wants to redefine the role of women in the Church. Last year, the Vatican exhorted the Catholic Church in Germany to observe unity with the universal Church.

"The lack of gender justice blocks the way to the core of our message," Kohlgraf said in the interview published on Wednesday. He said he had also told Pope Francis this. However, he said, he is obedient to Rome and will not simply ordain women priests without a corresponding reform.

Sattler said, "The Roman Catholic Church has to justify itself before God if it doesn't use the charisms of women for the proclamation of the Gospel." She was very happy to preach the Word of God, she said. "And the Second Vatican Council sees that as the primary task of the bishops."

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