In his own words,,,

"To American cardinals summoned to the Vatican during church sex abuse scandal involving U.S. priests on April 23, 2002:

The abuse which has caused this crisis is by every standard wrong and rightly considered a crime by society; it is also an appalling sin in the eyes of God."


Fair enough, but why didn't he finish the job? ie "...and from this day forward the priesthood welcomes women and the married, to protect the faithful from those who would hide their appalling 'sinfulness' behind the vestments of sacred celibacy"

"In a 1994 letter on the ban on women as priests:

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."

An interesting example of 'papal bull'. The Church is no democracy. All the Church's faithful and all the Church's men couldn't put women's dignity together again - without the authority of the Vatican, that is.