[Catholic Caucus] Leo-appointed archbishop of Vienna supports ‘ordination of women’

Archbishop Josef Grünwidl of Vienna has said that he wants the “ordination of women” but thinks it is not “realistic” at the moment.

In an interview with Austria’s public radio station Ö1, the new archbishop of Vienna addressed a wide range of issues, including the questions of female ordination, mandatory priestly celibacy, and euthanasia.

Grünwidl noted that women are already serving in many areas of Church life, including leadership positions.

“I have also included women in the Bishops’ Council, which is the bishop’s closest advisory body and one of the most important bodies,” he stated. “I would certainly wish for the ordination of women, but I see that at present this would be a decision that has to be taken at the level of the universal Church by a council. At the moment I do not see any realistic prospect of that decision being reached in that sense.”

Grünwidl said the Austrian bishops plan to change the statutes so any layperson can be elected secretary general of the Bishops’ Conference in the future. However, he expects the next secretary general to be a priest, as the current secretary, Father Peter Schipka, recently resigned, and the change to the statutes will need Vatican approval, which could take some time.

The archbishop’s suggestion that a future ecumenical council could allow women to receive Holy Orders and be ordained as priests or deacons contradicts the Church’s infallible teaching that only men are apt to receive Holy Orders.

Pope John Paul II affirmed the teaching in his 1994 apostolic letter Ordinatio Sacerdotalis. He wrote: “I declare that the Church has no authority whatsoever to confer priestly ordination on women and that this judgment is to be definitively held by all the Church’s faithful.”

Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, then-prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, reiterated in a Responsum ad Dubium in 1995 that the teaching laid out in Ordinatio Sacerdotalis is to be “held definitively” and “understood as belonging to the deposit of faith.”

“This teaching requires definitive assent, since, founded on the written Word of God, and from the beginning constantly preserved and applied in the Tradition of the Church, it has been set forth infallibly by the ordinary and universal Magisterium (cf. Second Vatican Council, Dogmatic Constitution on the Church Lumen Gentium 25, 2),” Ratzinger wrote.

Grünwidl’s view that the teaching on women’s ordination could be changed suggests a modernist understanding of doctrine, as though matters of faith and morals infallibly declared by the Church could change according to the spirit of the age.

While the archbishop viewed women’s ordination as possible but unrealistic, he believed that there is a greater chance of mandatory priestly celibacy being abolished. He said it was merely a provision of canon law “that has nothing to do with our faith, with the truths of the faith, or with dogma.”

“I very much hope that those who want to bring about change in this area will network more effectively so that their voices are heard more clearly in the Vatican,” he stated.

Grünwidl correctly points out that priestly celibacy is not a doctrine but a discipline of the Latin Church. However, to state that it has “nothing to do with our faith” and suggest that it is an arbitrary or merely practical rule is misleading. The practice of priestly celibacy is based on the example of Jesus Christ, who was celibate Himself. Likewise, the apostles were either celibate, like St. Paul, or practiced continence after marriage, like St. Peter. Our Lord said that “there are eunuchs, who have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven. He that can take, let him take it.” (Matthew 19:12)

St. Paul explained in his first letter to the Corinthians that celibacy is the higher calling compared to married life, stating that the unmarried man is more concerned “about the things of the Lord.”

When he was asked about assisted suicide, which has been legal in Austria since 2022, Grünwidl said: “I would ask someone who no longer wants to live: What would have to change for you to want to continue living?” He cited Cardinal Franz König, the former archbishop of Vienna, who preferred that “people die holding someone’s hand – and not by someone’s hand.” The archbishop later said, “A society must also be judged by how we treat the sick and the dying.”

“Ultimately, we must respect a decision of conscience,” he added. “If a person – despite all the help we can offer – comes to the conclusion that they will take the step of assisted suicide, then that decision must be respected. It saddens me when it comes to that point.”

Grünwidl did not mention that suicide is a mortal sin, since taking an innocent person’s life, including one’s own, violates God’s sovereignty over human life and the duty of love toward oneself as well as toward others.

Grünwidl was appointed as archbishop of Vienna in October 2025. His heterodox stance on women’s ordination, priestly celibacy, and giving Holy Communion to Catholics who are divorced and civilly “remarried” was already widely known before his appointment.

Grünwidl was appointed as archbishop of Vienna in October 2025. His heterodox stance on women’s ordination, priestly celibacy, and giving Holy Communion to Catholics who are divorced and civilly “remarried” was already widely known before his appointment.

More synodal news:

New German missal will feature ‘inclusive’ language: liturgist

German ‘theologian’ says women, gay men should become priests

Former head of German bishops blames abuse crisis on ‘taboo’ against gay priests

Vatican newspaper calls for women to govern the Church

440-year-old Franciscan friary falls victim to post-conciliar vocational collapse

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[Catholic Caucus] Leo-appointed archbishop of Vienna supports ‘ordination of women’

Archbishop Josef Grünwidl also argued for the abolition of priestly celibacy, stating it has 'nothing to do with our faith, with the truths of the faith, or with dogma.'

Grünwidl was appointed as archbishop of Vienna in October 2025. His heterodox stance on women’s ordination, priestly celibacy, and giving Holy Communion to Catholics who are divorced and civilly “remarried” was already widely known before his appointment.