It depends on the church. The Catholic and Orthodox churches do not ordain women as priests. The Church of England, the Episcopal Church in the United States, the Church of Sweden and most mainline Protestant churches do — and in 2026 a woman, Sarah Mullally, was installed as Archbishop of Canterbury for the first time in the office’s 1,400-year history. Conservative churches such as the Southern Baptist Convention allow women to serve in many ways but not as pastors.
This article belongs to our guide to women in religion. Below are the answers of each tradition, the Bible verses behind them, and the women who changed the rules.
Can women be priests in the Catholic Church?
No. Canon 1024 of the Code of Canon Law states that “only a baptized male validly receives sacred ordination”. In 1994 Pope John Paul II’s apostolic letter Ordinatio sacerdotalis declared that “the Church has no authority whatsoever to confer priestly ordination on women” and that this judgment is to be “definitively held”.
Women who take part in unauthorised ordinations — such as the movement Roman Catholic Womenpriests, which began with the “Danube Seven” in 2002 — are excommunicated under a Vatican decree issued with the authority of Pope Benedict XVI.
At the same time, four women hold the Church’s highest teaching title, Doctor of the Church: Teresa of Ávila and Catherine of Siena (both 1970), Thérèse of Lisieux (1997) and Hildegard of Bingen (2012). Their writings carry authority in the Church, though they could never celebrate Mass.
Why can’t women be priests in the Catholic Church?
The Church’s official answer, set out in the 1976 declaration Inter insigniores and repeated in 1994, is that Jesus chose twelve men as apostles, after a night of prayer, although women were among his followers, and the apostles chose only men as their successors. The Church sees this as a choice it is bound to follow, not as a statement that women are less worthy. The priest is also understood to act in persona Christi — in the person of Christ — at the altar. Inter insigniores adds the biblical image of marriage: “Christ is the Bridegroom; the Church his Bride”, and in the sacraments Christ, “the Bridegroom, the Head of the Church”, is represented by a man.
Critics answer that Jesus’ choice reflected the customs of his time, and point to women such as Phoebe, Junia and Mary Magdalene. The debate has not ended, but the official position has not changed. → Female prophets in the Bible: names and stories
Can women be deacons in the Catholic Church?
Not at present. Pope Francis set up two study commissions on women deacons (2016 and 2020). On 4 December 2025 the Vatican published the conclusions of the second commission, led by Cardinal Giuseppe Petrocchi: admitting women to the diaconate as part of Holy Orders is currently ruled out, but — unlike the priesthood — this is not a definitive judgment. The commission recommended widening other ministries open to women.
Can women be priests in the Orthodox Church?
No. No Eastern Orthodox church ordains women as priests or bishops. The question that is moving is the ancient order of deaconesses, which existed in the early Church — Phoebe is the first recorded example — and survived in Byzantium until around the twelfth century (Wilson, 2024).
On 3 May 2024 the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Alexandria ordained a deaconess in Zimbabwe, the first deaconess of any Orthodox patriarchate in modern times. The Armenian Apostolic Church, which is not part of the Eastern Orthodox communion, never fully stopped ordaining monastic deaconesses and in 2017 ordained a lay deaconess in Tehran.
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Can women be priests in the Church of England?
Yes. The General Synod voted for women priests in 1992, and on 12 March 1994 the first thirty-two women were ordained priests at Bristol Cathedral. Legislation allowing women bishops passed in 2014, and Libby Lane was consecrated the first woman bishop of the Church of England in January 2015.
In 2025 Sarah Mullally, then Bishop of London and a former Chief Nursing Officer for England, was named the 106th Archbishop of Canterbury. She legally took office at her confirmation of election at St Paul’s Cathedral on 28 January 2026 and was installed at Canterbury Cathedral on 25 March 2026 — the first woman to hold the office.
Who was the first woman priest in the Anglican Church?
Florence Li Tim-Oi of Hong Kong, ordained by Bishop Ronald Hall on 25 January 1944, during the Japanese occupation, when Anglicans in wartime southern China had no male priest to give them the sacraments. After the war she gave up her licence to avoid controversy but never her priesthood. Thirty years passed before any Anglican church regularly ordained women.
Barbara Harris, the first woman bishop
In 1974 eleven women — the “Philadelphia Eleven” — were ordained priests in the Episcopal Church (USA) without the church’s authorisation. The General Convention made women’s ordination lawful in 1976. In February 1989 Barbara Harris was consecrated suffragan bishop of Massachusetts, becoming the first woman bishop in the worldwide Anglican Communion. In 2006 Katharine Jefferts Schori became the first woman to lead a national Anglican church as Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church.
Women pastors: which Protestant churches allow them?
Most mainline Protestant churches ordain women, among them the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the United Methodist Church, the Presbyterian Church (USA), the United Church of Christ and the Lutheran state churches of Scandinavia; the Church of Sweden ordained its first women priests in 1960. Many Pentecostal churches have licensed women preachers since their beginnings; the Assemblies of God in the USA, for example, has allowed women to be pastors since 1935. The first woman ordained by a mainstream Protestant denomination in the United States was Antoinette Brown, a Congregationalist, in 1853.
Women pastors in the Bible
Those who support women pastors point to Phoebe the deacon (Romans 16:1), Priscilla, who taught Apollos (Acts 18:26), Junia, “outstanding among the apostles” (Romans 16:7), the women prophets of Corinth (1 Corinthians 11:5) and Paul’s words “there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:28).
Those who oppose them point to “I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man” (1 Timothy 2:12) and “the women should keep silent in the churches” (1 Corinthians 14:34), and to the qualifications for an overseer as “the husband of one wife” (1 Timothy 3:2).
The two camps have names. Complementarians — the term was coined by the founders of the Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood — hold that men and women are equal in dignity but have different roles, with the office of pastor reserved for men. Egalitarians, represented by Christians for Biblical Equality, hold that every office should be open to both.
The debate over Junia shows how much rests on a single letter. Origen in the 3rd century and John Chrysostom in the 4th read the name as a woman’s; a masculine “Junias” first appears in 12th-century manuscripts, and the first named author to make her a man was Giles of Rome in the 13th century. No male name “Junias” has been found in ancient sources, and most modern translations have restored “Junia”. Phoebe, too, carries two titles in Romans 16:1–2: diakonos (“deacon”) and prostatis, a word that in classical Greek meant a patron, protector or leader.
Women pastors in the Baptist church
Baptist churches are independent, so practice varies. The Southern Baptist Convention’s statement of faith, the Baptist Faith and Message 2000, says “the office of pastor is limited to men as qualified by Scripture”. In February 2023 the SBC removed Saddleback Church, founded by Rick Warren, because it had a woman pastor. Attempts to write the ban into the convention’s constitution failed to reach the required two-thirds majority in 2024 and 2025. Other Baptist bodies, such as the American Baptist Churches USA, ordain women.
Women priests beyond Christianity
The question is not only Christian. Reform Judaism ordained its first woman rabbi in 1972, but Regina Jonas had been privately ordained in Berlin as early as 1935 → Female rabbis. In Islam a woman may lead other women in prayer, and in China women’s mosques with women imams have existed for centuries → Female imams and women scholars in Islam. Shinto has allowed women to serve as head priests of shrines since the late 1940s, and in 2022 Buddhist nuns in Bhutan received full ordination → Women in Buddhism.
Could a woman ever be pope?
Under current Catholic law, no: the pope is the Bishop of Rome, and only a man can be ordained bishop. Yet for three centuries medieval Europe believed that a woman had once sat on the papal throne. Who was “Pope Joan”, and why did the Church remove her bust from Siena Cathedral? → Pope Joan: was there ever a female pope?
Priesthood, the soul and rebirth
Christian churches argue about the body of the person at the altar. Traditions that teach rebirth ask a different question: if the soul is born again and again, can it be born now as a man, now as a woman? Many of them answer yes. How the world’s faiths see the return of the soul is described in our guide to reincarnation beliefs across world religions and cultures.
Frequently asked questions
Can women be priests in Christianity?
In Anglican, Lutheran and most mainline Protestant churches, yes. In the Catholic and Orthodox churches, no.
Why can’t women be priests, according to the Bible?
Opponents cite 1 Timothy 2:12 and 1 Corinthians 14:34; the Catholic Church bases its position mainly on Jesus’ choice of twelve male apostles. Supporters cite Galatians 3:28 and the women leaders of Romans 16.
When did the Church of England ordain women priests?
The first thirty-two women were ordained on 12 March 1994; women bishops followed in 2015.
Who is the first female Archbishop of Canterbury?
Sarah Mullally, the 106th Archbishop, installed at Canterbury Cathedral on 25 March 2026.
Can women be deacons in the Orthodox Church?
Historically yes, and the order is being revived: the Patriarchate of Alexandria ordained a deaconess in Zimbabwe on 3 May 2024.
Sources
- Code of Canon Law, canon 1024. Vatican.va.
- John Paul II. Apostolic letter Ordinatio sacerdotalis, 22 May 1994; Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Inter insigniores, 15 October 1976.
- Letter of Cardinal Giuseppe Petrocchi on the Study Commission on the Female Diaconate, 4 December 2025; reported by America Magazine, 4 and 12 December 2025.
- Church of England / Archbishop of Canterbury: “Installation of the 106th Archbishop of Canterbury” (archbishopofcanterbury.org); Episcopal News Service, “Sarah Mullally confirmed as 106th archbishop of Canterbury”, 28 January 2026.
- Southern Baptist Convention. The Baptist Faith and Message 2000, article VI; Religion News Service, 11 June 2025.
- Kevin Madigan and Carolyn Osiek (eds.). Ordained Women in the Early Church: A Documentary History. Johns Hopkins University Press, 2005.
- Darlene O’Dell. The Story of the Philadelphia Eleven. Seabury Books, 2014.
- Andrea Hartmann. “Junia – A Woman Lost in Translation: The Name IOYNIAN in Romans 16:7 and its History of Interpretation”. Open Theology 6(1), 2020, 646–660. doi:10.1515/opth-2020-0138
- Susan Rakoczy. “The ordination of Catholic women as deacons: The state of the question”. HTS Teologiese Studies / Theological Studies 76(2), 2020. doi:10.4102/hts.v76i2.5965
- Laura Wilson. “The need for an historical theology of women deacons in the early church”. Religion Compass 18(3), 2024. doi:10.1111/rec3.12488