[Regarding a new decree by the Vatican which explicitly bars the ordination of women.]

The decree was published Thursday by Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano, which in a headline called the ordination of women a "crime."

The congregation said it acted to "preserve the nature and validity of the sacrament" of ordination.

The decree — signed by the congregation's head, American Cardinal William Levada — said anyone trying to ordain a woman and any woman who attempts to receive the ordination would incur automatic excommunication.