Pope Francis reaffirmed the Catholic Church’s doctrine that women are not able to receive holy orders.

The pontiff discussed the impossibility of female ordination in a Spanish-language book published in June, titled “El Pastor: Desafíos, razones y reflexiones sobre su pontificado” – or in English, “The Shepherd: Struggles, Reasons, and Thoughts on His Papacy,”

“The fact that the woman does not access ministerial life is not a deprivation, because her place is much more important,” the pontiff said, according to translations from Catholic News Agency. “I think we err in our catechesis in explaining these things, and ultimately we fall back on an administrative criterion that does not work in the long run.”