The Diocese of St. Gallen wants a "popess": a European drift that defies *Ordinatio Sacerdotalis*

Context

The Diocese of St. Gallen in Switzerland is not a diocese like any other in the recent history of the Catholic Church. It was there, around Cardinal Walter Kasper and a few European bishops, that the St. Gallen Group coordinated its strategies for the conclaves of 2005 and 2013. This same diocese has just released, in June 2026, a formation document inviting its faithful to "work together" toward "the election of the first woman pope."

Facts

According to the Catholic News Agency of June 24, 2026, the Diocese of St. Gallen distributed parish formation material in which the future election of a woman to the See of Peter is presented as a collective goal to be promoted. This document is not the marginal opinion of an isolated priest: it is produced by a diocesan body. The initiative comes at a time when Leo XIV has just reaffirmed the reservation of the homily to ordained ministers alone, in direct response to the demands of the German Synodal Way.

Doctrinal Analysis

John Paul II, in the apostolic letter Ordinatio Sacerdotalis (1994, n. 4), declared "definitively" that "the Church has no authority whatsoever to confer priestly ordination on women." The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith clarified in 1995 that this teaching belongs to the infallible ordinary and universal magisterium (responsio ad dubium, October 28, 1995). Yet the pontifical function presupposes episcopal ordination (Code of Canon Law, can. 332 § 1 and 1009 § 1). Promoting the election of a "woman pope" thus amounts to promoting what the magisterium has declared impossible and unacceptable. This is not a matter open to pastoral discernment.

Stakes for the Church and the Faithful

This case illustrates a structural phenomenon in Europe: ecclesiological disobedience that no longer takes the form of sensational declarations but of discreet pedagogical documents, distributed in parishes, which shape the expectations of the faithful in contradiction with the magisterium. For Leo XIV, a firm dicasterial response would strengthen his authority against reformist tendencies; silence could be interpreted as tacit tolerance.

Critical Reading and Blind Spots

The source—LifeSiteNews—should be read with discernment: it is important to verify whether this document was approved by the diocesan bishop himself or if it comes from a service acting autonomously. If the bishop disavows the text, the matter ends. Otherwise, Leo XIV has a concrete case for canonical intervention. The blind spot: this initiative reveals the growing disconnect between certain local Churches in Central Europe and Roman teaching—a fracture that the synod on synodality has not bridged.

To Reflect and Act

"For if anyone thinks he is something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself" (Gal 6:3). [/ENCADRE]

"Therefore, the ministerial priesthood is radically different from the common priesthood of the faithful" (CCC n. 1592). [/ENCADRE]

Read or reread Ordinatio Sacerdotalis, and report to your bishop any parish document that contradicts a definitive pontifical teaching.