A 43-year-old Anglican has become the first woman to be ordained as a priest in Rome.
The Rev Cecilia Monge Teran de Erazo a grandmother whose husband Juan is also a priest and - was a Roman Catholic until the 1980s. She was ordained last Sunday at the American Episcopal Church of St-Paul's-Within-the-Walls.
The couple, who are both from Ecuador, will celebrate their first public Mass together next Sunday, a church spokeswoman said.
The Vatican, which had no immediate comment, regards the ordination of women priests by churches in the Anglican Communion, of which the Episcopal Church is part, as an obstacle to Christian unity.
"I certainly do know [about the differences about women priests] and I am sorry about them, but I am happy that in my church there is this possibility," Ms Monge told Corriere della Sera yesterday.
"Imagine how beautiful it is to be a priest and married to a priest," she said"
Ms Monge, who has three children and two grandchildren, moved to Rome five years ago with her husband to help with pastoral work for Latin American immigrants. For several years she was a deacon before deciding five months ago to become a priest.
"I have always wanted to be a servant of the Lord and when I was a Catholic I thought of becoming a nun, but my father was against it and I couldn't," she said. "I have good memories [of the Catholic Church], where I was baptised, married and where two of our children were baptised."