The Vatican's decision to declare the attempted ordination of women a major Church crime reflects "the seriousness with which it holds offences against the sacrament of holy orders" and is not a sign of disrespect towards women, Archbishop Donald Wuerl of Washington has said.
The archbishop, who chairs the US bishops' Committee on Doctrine, spoke at a news briefing in the headquarters of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops hours after the Vatican issued new norms for handling priestly sex abuse cases and updated its list of the "more grave crimes" against Church law, including for the first time the "attempted sacred ordination of a woman".
