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 The Sacraments at the Service of Communion
An excerpt from The Catechism of the Catholic Church:

- The Sacrament of Holy Orders
- Why Is This Sacrament Called "Orders"?
- The Sacramant of Holy Orders in the Economy of Salvation
- The Three Degrees of the Sacrament of Holy Orders
- The Celebration of This Sacrament
- Who Can Confer This Sacrament?
- Who Can Receive This Sacrament?
- The Effects of the Sacrament of Holy Orders
- In Brief


 On the Ministry and Life of Priests (Presbyterorum Ordinis)
The decree of the Second Vatican Council, issued in 1965. See also:
- Ordination Rite: Order of Priest


 Concerning the Pastoral Office of Bishops in the Church (Christus Dominus)
The decree of the Second Vatican Council, issued in 1965. See also:
- Ordination Rite: Order of Bishop


 On Priestly Training (Optatam Totius)
The decree of the Second Vatican Council, issued in 1965.


 On the Sacrament of Order
From the Twenty-third Session of the Council of Trent, 1545-1563.


 On the Bishop, Servant of the Gospel of Jesus Christ for the Hope of the World (Pastores Gregis)
Pope John Paul II's 2003 Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation.


 Holy Thursday Letters to Priests
A collection of the annual letters written by Pope John Paul II to the world's priests, contains many gems of practical pastoral council and a fine theology of the priesthood.


 On St. John Vianney (Sacerdotii Nostri Primordia)
Pope John XXIII's encyclical of 1959 is a fine meditation on the meaning of the priesthood and the Church's official patron saint of priests.


 The Priest, Pastor and Leader of the Parish Community
An instruction by the Vatican's Congregation for the Clergy (2002).


 The Priest and the Third Christian Millenium
An instruction by the Vatican's Congregation for the Clergy (1999).


 Collaboration of the Non-Ordained Faithful in the Sacred Ministry of Priest
An important 1997 document clarifying the respective roles of the priest and lay people during the celebration of the Mass. Issued jointly by the Vatican's Congregation for the Clergy; Pontifical Council for the Laity; Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith; Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments; Congregation for Bishops; Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples; Congregation for Institutes of Consecretated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life; and Pontifical Council for the Interpretation of Legislative Texts.


 Directory on the Ministry and Life of Priests
An instruction by the Vatican's Congregation for the Clergy (1994).


 Reflections on the Identity and Mission of the Priest (from the Vatican's Congregation for the Clergy):
- The Priesthood of the Old Covenant
- Priesthood in the New Testament
- The Image of the Priest in Vatican II's Presbyterorum Ordinis
- Priesthood: A Greater Love
- Life and Ministry of Priests
- Priests and Confession
- The Priest and the Bishop
- The Blessed Virgin Mary in the Life and Ministry of the Priest
- The Necessity of Continuing Formation for the Priest
- To All Priests in the World (On the 30th anniversary of Vatican II's, Presbyterorum Ordinis)


 On the Celibacy of the Priest (Sacerdotalis Caelibatus)
Pope Paul VI's Encyclical Letter of 1967.


 Reflections on Priestly Celibacy (from the Vatican's Congregation for the Clergy):
- The Biblical Foundation of Priestly Celibacy
- Purity and Priesthood in the Hebrew Scriptures and Rabbinic Tradition
- The Spirituality of Priestly Celibacy
- Priestly Celibacy in Patristics and Church History
- The Theological Basis for Priestly Celibacy
- Sign of the Charity of Christ by Blessed Teresa of Calcutta


 On Reserving Priestly Ordination to Men Alone
Pope John Paul II's 1984 Apostolic Letter, Ordinatio Sacerdotalis. For earlier Vatican pronouncements on the subject:
- Declaration on the Admission of Women to the Ministerial Priesthood (Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, 1976)

For a fine commentary on the subject, written in 1978, by Father Louis Ligier, S.J., a consultor of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith:
- The Question of Admitting Women to the Ministerial Priesthood