Newly restored frescoes prove early Christian church had women priests, outlaw Catholic group says

Newly restored frescoes prove early Christian church had women priests, outlaw Catholic group says

ROME — The Vatican unveiled newly restored frescoes in the Catacombs of Priscilla in Rome Tuesday — and ignited controversy over whether the early Christian church had women priests.

The catacombs feature 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. Another fresco in a richly decorated burial chamber features a woman, dressed in a dalmatic — a cassock-like robe — with her hands up in the position used by priests for public worship.