First Female Priest to Raise Italian Eyebrows, Blood Pressure

Posted on May 13, 2010

Flickr / JuditK (CC-BY-ND)

Maria Longhitano, a married teacher, will be the first woman priest ordained in Italy when she takes her vows at an Anglican church near the Vatican. The Roman Catholic Church, which continues to oppose she-priests in all their heretical curviness, will surely be irked by the proceedings.

BBC:

Pope Benedict is implacably opposed to women as priests.

His predecessor, John Paul II, even banned official discussion of the issue, BBC religious affairs correspondent Robert Pigott notes.

Although Mrs Longhitano will not be a Roman Catholic priest, her ordination in the borrowed Anglican church will be acutely uncomfortable for the Vatican, he says.

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