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A document published earlier this month by the Vatican and signed by the Sovereign Pontiff says that a woman does not need to have "kept her body in perfect badual continence "to become a consecrated virgin.
The Imago Ecclesiae Sponsae document says that "the call to witness to the virginal, spousal and fruitful love of the Church for Christ is not reduced to the symbol of the "Physical integrity" and that it is not a "requirement" to have kept the body in all virginal state.
Women who wish to be consecrated as virgins participate in a ceremony in which they dress in white and surrender to Christ. Once they have joined the vocation, they wear wedding rings and can not get married or have bad. It is believed that there are about 5,000 in the world.
Disappointed
The United States Association of Consecrated Virgins issued a statement in which he described the document as "deeply disappointing" and said that the stipulation is "shocking".
"The whole tradition of the Church has firmly held that a woman must have received the gift of virginity, that is, material and formal (carnal and spiritual), to receive the consecration of the virgins, "said the organization which gathers about 200 Americans.
The statement He cites a previous document," Consecration to a life of virginity ", which says that women who become virgins consecrated women must "never marry or live in public or in open violation of chastity."
The new document, which may be considered a regulation, says that women can leave the vocation of chastity "for reasons very serious "if they are presented in writing with the corresponding letter entity It ensures that at least two years of consecration are required and that he has reached the age of 25 before he can devote himself as "the bride of Christ." The orders of the Virgins were present in the early Roman Catholic Church, but disappeared the medieval era before being relaunched in 1970 under the leadership of Pope Paul VI.
Unlike nuns, others should not wear special clothing or live in convents; they can be part of the secular world although many of them choose to live in solitude, prayer and contemplation for a large part of their lives.
