In light of the numerous child sex abuse cases around the world, an increasing number of voices have been calling for the Catholic Church to change its stance on both the ordination of women and also on the celibacy vow for priests.

Last week the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith sent a letter to bishops worldwide setting forth new rules that will become a permanent part of church legislation. The letter states that the attempted ordination of women represents a “grave crime” subject to the same set of procedures and punishments which are delivered for sex abuse.

“At a briefing Thursday, Monsignor Charles Scicluna defended the inclusion of both sex abuse and ordination of women in the same document as a way of codifying two of the most serious canonical crimes against sacraments and morals that the congregation deals with.”