Poncho Ladies: Excommunicated

No real surprise here:

The Vatican issued its most explicit decree so far against the ordination of women priests on Thursday, punishing them and the bishops who try to ordain them with automatic excommunication.

The decree was written by the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and published in the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano, giving it immediate effect.
A Vatican spokesman said the decree made the Church's existing ban on women priests more explicit by clarifying that excommunication would follow all such ordinations.

Excommunication forbids those affected from receiving the sacraments or sharing in acts of public worship

Reuters' religion reporter immediately contacted notorious dissenter Fr. T Reese, SJ, who was removed from his position at America magazine for his ....ahhh...notorious dissent. Think of him as the Scott McCallum of the priesthood. Reese conjured up a popular front:

Rev. Tom Reese, a senior fellow at the Woodstock Theological Center at Georgetown University, said he thought the decree was meant to send a warning to the growing number of Catholics who favor admitting women to the priesthood.

"I think the reason they're doing this is that they've realized there is more and more support among Catholics for ordaining women, and they want to make clear that this is a no-no," Reese said.

...."growing"? "who favor"?...

And he adduces the utterly inane argument that Christ (who is God, after all) was "constrained" in His actions:

Proponents of women's ordination say Christ was only acting according to the social norms of his time.

The poor guy couldn't get past the Scribes and Pharisees.

Right.