Women Priests Secretly Ordained In The Shadow Of The Vatican

Six women were ordained in a secret ceremony on a river barge in Rome this month (Credit: AFP)

On a barge on Rome's River Tiber, a stone's throw from the Vatican, Loan Rocher was "ordained" in a secret ceremony in defiance of the Catholic Church's ban on women deacons and priests.

Dressed in a white robe with a rainbow stole, the 68-year-old Frenchwoman acknowledged her ordination was unauthorised by the Vatican, where a month-long summit on the future of the Church concludes next week.