Archdiocesan official uses St. Mary Magdalene to attack male priesthood

MUNICH (LifeSiteNews) — The Archdiocese of Munich has published an interview accusing Pope Gregory the Great and other historical churchmen of leading a “character assassination” against St. Mary Magdalene and recasting her as a victim of male clerical power.

The Archdiocese of Munich and Freising in Germany is marking the 10th anniversary of Pope Francis’ 2016 decree elevating the liturgical celebration of St. Mary Magdalene by promoting a year-long initiative portraying her as the victim of a historical “character assassination,” allegedly carried out by influential men in the Church. The campaign culminates on July 22 with a public celebration and Mass at St. Michael’s Church in Munich.

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“The character assassination of Mary Magdalene is not only a scandal for which powerful men in the Church are responsible, it continues to have consequences to this day,” said Irmgard Huber, head of the Office for Women’s Pastoral Care, in an interview published on the archdiocesan website.

According to Huber, the worst affront came from a pope and Doctor of the Church: “Towards the end of the 6th century, Pope Gregory the Great demolished Magdalene’s reputation with a series of sermons by lumping her together with other anointing and sinning women of the Bible and other Marys. As a result, their identity was lost.”

Huber argued that Mary Magdalene’s reputation was deliberately damaged over the centuries because of her prominent place among Christ’s disciples. She claimed that “much suggests” the male followers of Jesus struggled to accept “the outstanding role” of the disciple whom the risen Christ chose as “apostle.”

For this reason, the archdiocese states on its website, “on July 22, 2026, we will celebrate the tenth anniversary of Mary Magdalene’s equality with the Apostles.”

In her interview, Huber also argued that St. Mary Magdalene “seems to have been a completely independent woman” because “age, origin and social status are unknown” in the Gospels. From this, the interviewee argues that Magdalene did not allow herself to be “defined by any man,” unlike other women mentioned in the Scriptures.

“There are numerous writings outside the Bible, written in the first centuries, when Christianity developed into a religion alongside Judaism, which prove that this Mary, who was called Magdalene, encouraged the disciples to carry on the cause of Jesus. She explained to them what they could not understand,” Huber says.

When asked why St. Mary Magdalene’s role has supposedly “faded” over the centuries, Huber replied that already Jesus’ 12 male apostles “had a problem with the prominent role of this disciple.”

Citing the content of several apocryphal texts in support of her view, Huber argues that “the apostles react jealously to this model pupil of Jesus: Could it be that she knows more than we do? That she understands faster than we did? Is she closer to the Lord than we were? We must not allow this woman to tell us what to do!”

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However, many of the apocryphal writings to which Huber refers originated in Gnostic circles, whose theological outlook differs substantially from the apostolic faith preserved by the Catholic Church. Several of these apocryphal writings portray St. Mary Magdalene as possessing secret knowledge, exceptional spiritual authority, or even a divine nature akin to that of Christ.

According to Huber’s reconstruction, even the title used by some Church Fathers for St. Mary Magdalene – “apostle of the apostles” – would have been an affront, because it “sounds like an award,” but “already diminished her mission: the Apostle is sent to the Apostles – and they then carry the message into the world. This is the end of the woman’s job. The men take over.”

“If one looks with alert eyes at the position of this woman in the circle of the biblical Jesus, one cannot avoid the realization,” Huber claims. “Actually, the position of women in the church would be different today, if Jesus Himself at that time placed an independent woman at the beginning of the post-Easter faith community.”

Huber concludes that “all the discussions regarding the question of ecclesiastical ministries for women” would become unnecessary “if the outstanding role of Mary Magdalene were finally recognized,” presenting the Munich initiative as a step toward what she described as “a fraternal Church.”