These Last Days News - June 2, 2025
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2001 Vatican Document: Bishops Cannot Compel Priests to Include Female Altar Servers...

DISOBEDIENCE
"No woman shall be on the altars of God! Disobedience, lack of respect for the Holy Father--what will this bring you to but your own destruction!" - St. Paul, March 24, 1974

MODERNISTIC TENDENCIES
"You cannot separate Tradition from your Faith, My children. The past leaders of My Son's Church, His House, the popes, had given you counsel to strengthen this House. You cannot cast this counsel aside for modernistic tendencies and modes. A church in darkness wears a band of death about it!" - Our Lady, August 19, 1978

The above Messages from Our Lady were given to Veronica Lueken at Bayside, New York. Read more

TheCatholicHerald.com reported on June 2, 2025:

By Thomas Edwards

A 2001 Vatican ruling has resurfaced, confirming that bishops cannot require priests to use female altar servers. The letter, issued by the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments under Cardinal Jorge Arturo Medina Estévez, was published on 27 July 2001 and reaffirmed the rights of priests over liturgical decisions in their parishes.

The document states: “A priest may not be obliged to have women or girls as altar servers, nor may the diocesan Bishop oblige him to do so.” It also quotes a circular letter sent to the presidents of episcopal conferences on 15 March 1994: “It will always be very appropriate to follow the noble tradition of having boys serve at the altar,” noting the role of such service in fostering vocations to the priesthood. The letter was issued in response to an unnamed bishop who had written to the Vatican seeking to mandate female altar servers for all priests in his diocese.

While the use of female altar servers was permitted by the Holy See in 1994, the 2001 clarification made clear that priests may continue to use only male servers if they wish, and bishops cannot impose otherwise.

The ruling was recently highlighted by LifeSiteNews and its editor-in-chief, John-Henry Westen, who wrote: “Bishops cannot force priests to use altar girls. In 2001, under St Pope John Paul II, the Vatican ruled: Bishops… ‘may not exclude boys from the altar, NOR REQUIRE THAT PRIESTS OF THE DIOCESE WOULD MAKE USE OF FEMALE ALTAR SERVERS’. That ruling still stands. Priests have the right to say no.”

The earliest known papal reference to women serving at the altar dates back to Pope Gelasius I in the 5th century. In a letter, he expressed concern over women participating in liturgical roles reserved for men.

While St John Paul II allowed bishops to permit female altar servers in 1994, he left the decision to them and himself used only male servers. Pope Benedict XVI followed the same practice, showing a clear preference for male servers. Pope Francis has used both male and female servers in some liturgies, though he has made no official change to the policy, and Vatican Masses still generally feature male servers. Pope Leo XIV has not yet publicly addressed the matter.

Since the 1990s, several bishops have attempted to impose the use of female altar servers in their dioceses. In 2014, Archbishop Blase Cupich insisted on the inclusion of female altar servers at his installation Mass in Chicago, reportedly intervening when only male seminarians had been scheduled. His public expectation of inclusive altar service set a clear diocesan precedent. In 2025, a draft liturgical policy from Bishop Michael T Martin of Charlotte, North Carolina, sought to prohibit boys-only altar server programmes entirely, branding them divisive. The policy provoked backlash and was ultimately shelved.

By contrast, some bishops have attempted to forbid female altar servers. In 2017, Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith of Colombo, Sri Lanka, ordered a return to male-only altar service in his archdiocese.

Some Catholics have argued against the inclusion of female altar servers on the grounds that it departs from an unbroken liturgical tradition. It is also seen to impact negatively on vocations to the priesthood, since the inclusion of women blurs the concept of serving at the altar as a step towards a priestly vocation.

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Directives from Heaven... https://www.tldm.org/directives/directives.htm

D173 - Women Priests   PDF
D545 - Novelty & Experimentation, Part 1 PDF
D546 - Novelty & Experimentation, Part 2 PDF

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