“We have waited centuries for a Pope to formally apologise for the Vatican’s support of slavery. Instead of teaching and practising equality as a spiritual and moral leader, the Church distorted the Gospel to condone slavery and to take advantage of slave labour for their own material gain.
Women’s Ordination Worldwide sees parallels in this pattern of behaviour in the Vatican’s teaching about and treatment of women that is based on ancient prejudice and medieval misogyny. We welcome the shift from identifying the evil of slavery as one perpetuated by individuals to a sin committed by the entire Church. And we know that at some point in history, the degrading and distorted teachings about women that are still engaged to justify their exclusion from full membership of the Church will also be seen as an historic sin on a collective scale.
A papal teaching on human dignity that sidelines women is not a comprehensive, ‘Catholic’ vision. It is a contradiction. A Church that praises women’s gifts while withholding real authority and inclusion cannot credibly speak of wholeness. An encyclical aiming to teach the world about dignity and human rights is incompatible with arbitrary exclusion on the basis of physical sex.
We know that at some point in history, the degrading and distorted teachings about women that are still engaged to justify their exclusion from full membership of the Church will also be seen as an historic sin on a collective scale.
Until Pope Leo plainly names the Church’s failure to women and acts decisively to correct it, Magnifica Humanitas will stand as yet another papal text that invokes human dignity while continuing to uphold male supremacy. For complete statement, see here:
https://womensordinationcampaign.org/press-releases/2026/5/27/wow-responds-to-magnifica-humanitas-when-will-women-receive-an-apology-27-may-2026
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