As the 17 young men preparing to be ordained as Catholic priests entered the sanctuary at St. Thomas the Apostle Catholic Church in Chicago, they each pinned a tiny light-blue ribbon to their white robes. The gesture was small but explosive: It signified their belief that women, too, should be allowed into the priesthood.

It was April 1981, and the men were students at Catholic Theological Union, a divinity school founded in the 1960s and still on fire with the era’s radical spirit. Women’s ordination as Catholic priests was one of the most urgent topics for men and women on campus, the subject of constant discussion, organizing and, for many, optimism.

One of their classmates was Robert Prevost, who was named pope last week. As Leo XIV, he now leads a global church that has firmly closed the door on the question of women as priests, but has left open the possibility that women could someday be ordained as deacons, the step before the priesthood.

Robert Prevost as a student at Catholic Theological Union.Credit…Catholic Theological Union

The men at St. Thomas in 1981 were there to be ordained as deacons, and the demonstration had been planned in advance. A program for the event included a note from the men explaining that “the people who you see wearing blue ribbons today are giving witness in support of the total inclusion of women in all the Church’s ministries.”

Decades later, many in the sanctuary that day still vividly recall what happened next. First, the prelate presiding over the ceremony, Bishop Alfred Abramowicz of Chicago, refused to continue unless the men removed their ribbons. (At least one quietly refused, moving his ribbon to a less visible placement.)