Seven female 'priests' excommunicated

The Vatican yesterday excommunicated seven women who claim to be priests and refuse to repent, saying the group had "wounded" the Church.

The women from Austria, Germany and the United States participated in an ordination ceremony carried out by Romulo Braschi, an Argentine who calls himself an archbishop but whom the Vatican rejects.

The Church's guardian of orthodoxy, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, set a July 22 deadline for the women to reverse their claims.