PARIS, July 5 (UPI) -- A French woman who claimed to be ordained as a priest by three women bishops has been excommunicated by the Roman Catholic Church.
Genevieve Beney, 56, was ordained Saturday in the French city of Lyon by three women "bishops," France's Le Monde newspaper reports in its Tuesday's editions.
Among those attending were two married priests.
Beney is also married. Catholic priests are not allowed to marry and the Vatican has been adamant about refusing to ordain women.
She had been warned Friday by the Lyon archbishop, Cardinal Philippe Barbarin, that the ordination meant breaking ties with the Roman Catholic Church. Church officials followed through with the threat this week.
In a written statement she defended the ordination as a "legitimate" act of transgression to change an obsolete practice.
