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Vatican rejects proposal to allow sermons by Catholic women
The church said the homily is tied to the liturgy’s nature and cannot be opened to lay preachers, including women, under current rules.
- On Tuesday, the Vatican reaffirmed that only ordained priests or deacons may deliver sermons at Mass, rejecting a March 30 request from the German Bishops to allow commissioned laypeople to preach.
- The German Bishops had sought an 'indult'—a special favor from the Apostolic See—to permit commissioned lay members to preach in place of the homily during the Eucharist in exceptional circumstances.
- In a June 17, 2026 letter to Bishop Heiner Wilmer, the Dicastery for Divine Worship stated that reserving the homily to ordained ministers derives from the 'very nature of the liturgy' and the Sacrament of Holy Orders.
- The Catholic Church teaches that priests act 'in persona Christi' during worship; the Dicastery emphasized the 'current discipline cannot be dispensed from' for the world's 1.4 billion Catholics.
- Canon law permits laypeople to preach at prayer services outside the Eucharist, the Vatican clarified, distinguishing these roles from the homily reserved for ordained ministers and reinforcing liturgical boundaries.
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Curia denied the request that ordinary people could make the homily. Demand came from the German Episcopal Conference, which fears damage to the process of reforming the Catholic Church of the country
Vatican says “No” to German bishops request for lay homilies
The Vatican has rejected a German bishop’s request for permission to allow lay persons to deliver the homily in “exceptional circumstances” instead of a cleric. The German bishops had requested a special formal permission, known as an indult, in March of this year. The Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments – the Vatican department responsible liturgical matters – conveyed their negative response in a letter addressed …
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C 43%
R 50%
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