The Vatican has rejected a request from German bishops to permit lay people to preach homily during Mass. The rejection stems from a request made by the German Bishops’ Conference on March 30, 2026 “to permit, in exceptional circumstances, a duly commissioned lay member of the faithful to preach in place of the homily during the celebration of the Eucharist.” In a letter to the Vatican, Bishop Heiner Wilmer of Münster, president of the German bishops’ conference, justified the request by citing that lay people in Germany have been preaching in exceptional cases since 1988. However, according to the Catholic Order of Mass, the Liturgy of the Word includes a first and sometimes second reading of the Word and a Psalm reading, followed by the Gospel Acclamation and then the Homily. Germany’s 1988 guidelines permitted homily lay preaching before the Gospel Acclamation, whereas the new request would have permitted the lay preaching after the Gospel. Wilmer also cited the growing shortage of priests as a reason to let more lay people preach, stating, “the pastoral situation in Germany has intensified to the point that situations are arising more and more often in which priests preside over the Sunday celebration of the Eucharist who—whether because of advanced age, physical frailty, language barriers, or other obstacles—are not able to give the homily in an appropriate manner.”

The Vatican insisted that such a request could not be permitted because “the homily, which forms an integral part of the Liturgy of the Word, is intrinsically linked to the proclamation of the Gospel and constitutes an exercise of the munus docendi entrusted to ordained ministers through the Sacrament of Holy Orders.” The Vatican insisted “the importance of promoting the ongoing formation of ordained ministers so that the homilly may fully express its pastoral and spiritual effectiveness.” The Vatican also noted that lay people have other opportunities to preach and proclaim the Word “outside the homily and outside the celebration of the Eucharist, in accordance with canon law.”

Some outlets have framed the Vatican’s decision as a rejection of women who are not permitted to take on pastoral positions in the Catholic church from having more visual roles in church leadership. “Since his election [Pope Leo XIV] has signaled openness to women in visible church roles. But the Vatican’s decision suggests that Rome’s promises of greater lay and female participation, emphasized during the global Synod on Synodality, still have firm limits when it comes to the liturgy and ordained ministry,” wrote Religion News. Reuters’ reporting entitled the report as Vatican Rejects Proposal to Allow Sermons by Catholic Women. Such framing comes soon after the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) passed a resolution confirming the Convention’s prohibition against women preachers or being given the title “pastor.” The Vatican’s decision could have far-reaching consequences for other churches, such as Swiss bishops which wrote a pastoral letter permitting lay preaching “in place of the homily” at Mass.