Remembering Ludmila Javorová ‘A Priest Forever’ – Catholic Campaigners Call On Pope Leo to Recognise Her Priesthood
| Remembering Ludmila Javorová ‘A Priest Forever’ Catholic Campaigners Call On Pope Leo to Recognise Her Priesthood |
| For Immediate Release 06 October 2026 London, England |
| Letter to Pope Leo from Women’s Ordination Worldwide 06 October 2026 Dear Pope Leo, CC: Cardinal Michael Czerny Women’s Ordination Worldwide recently held our annual gathering and prayed for our mission and for yours, that you may see beyond the sexism of your surroundings and recognise that women are already priests. We dedicate this letter to the blessed memory of Reverend Ludmila Javorová (1932 – 2026) whose life and priesthood we will celebrate at her funeral on 10 October 2026. In 1970, Bishop Felix Maria Davídek exhibited the courage and spiritual leadership we are so desperate to see in the Catholic hierarchy today. Identifying a pastoral need to minister to women imprisoned by the Communist regime in Czechoslovakia, he secretly ordained Ludmila as a priest. In 1996, Vatican officials informed Javorová that she could no longer exercise her priestly ministry and declared that her ordination was invalid – because she was a woman. For the rest of her life, Ludmila would be obliged to exercise her priestly ministry in secret, with no institutional recognition or support. A much needed, talented and spirit filled priest, was abandoned and shunned by her church. But when it came to the Czech married men who were also secretly ordained by Bishop Davídek in the underground church, the Vatican invited them to obtain official recognition in order to continue their ministries. Can you explain why their priesthood was open to regularisation despite also being ‘officially’ against the Latin Rite rules, while Ludmila’s ordination remained rejected and denied? Earlier this year, the Vatican beatified two Czech priests who were martyred under Communist rule. Cardinal Czerny (who hails from the the former Czechoslovakia) said this about the persecution of Fr. Jan and Fr. Václav: The communist regime did not merely want to kill them; it wanted to annihilate their priestly identity. We are asking you Pope Leo and you, Cardinal Czerny as a compatriot of Ludmila’s, to officially recognise that she was validly ordained and to apologise for seeking to annihilate her priestly identity. WOW asks: Is the official Catholic Church willing to risk its moral credibility by continuing to deny the reality of Ludmila’s ordination? The fact that a Roman Catholic Bishop validly ordained a woman as a priest in the modern era surely sets a precedent that cannot be overlooked. If the official response is that this action was a mistake, how are we supposed to accept that the ordinations of male priests are always valid? The Catholic hierarchy must finally be compelled to acknowledge historical truth and cannot continue to evade accountability for its actions. Given Ludmila’s devotion to her faith during the communist persecution of the Catholic Church, we believe there is a cause for her canonization. She and the other women ordained in the face of extreme danger, demonstrated extraordinary courage. Her first act of non-violent resistance was in accepting Bishop Davídek’s call to serve imprisoned women who were denied the sacraments. Her second act was in affirming the dignity of her ordination in the face of an intransigent church hierarchy. Ludmila Javorová should be recognized as a saint. Instead she has been treated like a sinner. OUT OF THE DEPTHS, I AM HERE OUT OF THE DEPTHS OF HIDDEN NEED/BURIED TREASURE/DORMANT SEED/THE FUTURE IS ARISING/A FUTURE SO SURPRISING/IT IS HERE/I HEAR YOUR VOICE Words by Sister Miriam Therese Winter Media Contacts: Miriam Duignan +44 7970 926910 miriam.duignan@wijngaardsinstitute.com Therese Koturbash +01 204 648 5720 t.koturbash@womensordinationcampaign.org Historical Background Ludmila Javorová Women’s Ordination Worldwide mourns the passing of woman of courage, Reverend Ludmila Javorová. Ordained a Roman Catholic priest on 29 December 1970 in the underground Church of Soviet occupied Czechoslovakia (as it then was), she courageously served the Church when Catholicism had been driven underground because of persecution by occupiers. Under the Communist regime in Czechoslovakia (1948–1989), the Church was systematically persecuted. Many priests, religious, and lay leaders were imprisoned, tortured and even killed. Hundreds of priests, monks, nuns and laypeople were sentenced to long prison terms. Clergy were subjected to show trials, forced labour camps, extrajudicial harassment by the secret police, and, in many cases, torture during interrogation. Some priests were executed after staged trials. Two such priests, Jan Bula and Václav Drbola, were beatified in 2026 as martyrs of communism. Archbishop Josef Beran was interned for years. Priest Josef Toufar was illegally arrested and tortured to death. Both were later legally rehabilitated by the state. In this climate of fear, an underground church rose up to operate outside state-controlled structures. Bishop Felix Davídek (who himself spent 14 years in prison) clandestinely ordained priests including married men and, controversially, a number of women to provide pastoral service including sacraments to the members of the Church. Ludmila Javorová answered this call. One of Davidek’s reasons for ordaining women was to provide sacramental care to imprisoned women. These included catechists and nuns who had suffered torture and abuse, who were incarcerated, and who could not be reached by male priests. Davidek knew women priests could go ‘under the radar’ to serve. The Vatican later normalised the ordinations of the married men but has continuously refused to recognise the courageous women who, despite danger and peril, courageously answered the call to ministry. These women and their service remain significant in the history of persecution and resistance within the Czech Catholic Church. Ludmila, and the other women who served, are giants in terms of responding to their calls to serve as Catholic priests. They did so knowing the risks of arrest and torture. These were expected consequences of the time. In 1983, Javorová appealed to Pope John Paul II about her case. She did not receive a reply. In 1996, she was officially told she was forbidden to exercise her priestly ordination because her ordination was viewed to be invalid according to canon law solely because she was a woman. The institutional Church continues to ignore her. – Women’s Ordination Worldwide |
| Women’s Ordination Worldwide |
| Founded in 1996, WOW is an international network of groups whose current mission is the inclusion of Roman Catholic women in all ordained ministries. |
| Founded on the principle of equality, WOW opposes all discrimination. ‘There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. -Galatians 3:28 |
| Who is WOW? |
| Women’s Ordination Worldwide (WOW) is an international leader in creative, prayerful action. We bring visibility to the need for equality of women in the Roman Catholic Church. |
| An international network, WOW draws national and international groups together in common cause to end global discrimination against women in the Church. |
| WOW now includes nearly 20 reform minded member groups from Australia, Austria, Canada, Colombia, France, Germany, Great Britain, India, Ireland, Portugal, and USA. |
| WOW is… |
| The Future: Working to make real a Catholic Church that includes women in all realms of leadership including ordained priesthoodActive: media voices, international vigils, globally connecting, raising awareness, moving forward, being the changeSpiritual: women’s liturgies, vigils, leadership in prayerful actionPromoting: new found respect in the Church for women’s gifts and presence and leadership … and as a consequence, building new respect for the Church. |
 Copyright (C)2026 Women’s Ordination Worldwide. All rights reserved. |
A former Engineering Classmate of mine ultimately became a Priest of the Archdiocese of Westminster. He subsequently left active ministry to marry.
He and his wife, their two daughters, would have no problem if he was allowed to Minister again.
Baptism places an indelible mark on the soul. As does the Sacrament of Holy Orders:
“Tu es Sacerdos in aeternum secundum ordinem Melchisedech”.
So no reOrdination required. Perhaps reincardination into Westminster Archdiocese. And there would be administrative matters.
But no doctrinal issues.
Why allowing married men who wish it, back into Ministry is never discussed, beggars belief.
Ignore her!
“In 1983, Javorová appealed to Pope John Paul II about her case.
She did not receive a reply.
In 1996, she was officially told she was forbidden to exercise her priestly ordination because her ordination was viewed to be invalid according to canon law solely because she was a woman.
The institutional Church continues to ignore her.”
This same policy of ignoring women’s presbyteral vocations continues, including in the Working Document for the 17th October Synodal National Assembly here in Ireland.
But what comes from the Holy Spirit cannot be stopped.