Vatican Unveils Frescoes In Catacombs of Priscilla With Images Some Say Show Early Women Priests

THE HUFFINGTON POST
By Nicole Winfield

A fresco adorns the Catacombs of Priscilla, a labyrinthine cemetery complex that stretches for kilometers underground, in Rome, Tuesday, Nov. 19, 2013.

VATICAN CITY---The Vatican on Tuesday unveiled newly restored frescoes in the Catacombs of Priscilla, known for housing the earliest known image of the Madonna with Child — and frescoes said by some to show women priests in the early Christian church. More controversially, the catacomb tour features two scenes said by proponents of the women's ordination movement to show women priests: One in the ochre-hued Greek Chapel features a group of women celebrating a banquet, said to be the banquet of the Eucharist. The Association of Roman Catholic Women Priests, which includes women who have been excommunicated by the Vatican for participating in purported ordination ceremonies, holds the images up as evidence that there were women priests in the early Christian church — and that therefore there should be women priests today. [link]