Did he? When? (Sincere question.) I remember going to my old pastor, Fr. Dominic Tamburello,to voice my disapproval of altar girls, just --- as I remember it --- weeks before altar girls got the OK. I felt rather undercut about it, to say the least.
18. There are, of course, various roles that women can perform in the liturgical assembly: these include reading the Word of God and proclaiming the intentions of the Prayer of the Faithful. Women are not, however, permitted to act as altar servers.
This instruction, prepared by the Sacred Congregation for the Sacraments and Divine Worship, was approved on April 17, 1980, by the Holy Father, John Paul II, who confirmed it with his own authority and ordered it to be published and to be observed by all concerned.
The one who undercut you was our own Pope, who reversed himself under pressure.