What are the reasons why there cannot be a female pope?

There actually may have been one once, technically, anyway. Pope Joan is a Medieval religious leader believed by some to have been a female pontiff who reigned over the Roman Catholic Church, who dismisses her as myth. She allegedly assumed the name John Anglicus, disguising herself as a man and eventually becoming pope.

To answer your question:
Canon law and the Catechism of the Catholic Church, is that: “Only a baptized man (in Latin, vir) validly receives sacred ordination.”[1] The Church teaches that this requirement is a matter of divine law, and thus doctrinal.[2] The question of whether only males can receive ordination to the diaconate has been proposed as still open to discussion, although there is a fundamental unity between deacon, priest, and bishop in the single sacrament of Holy Orders, meaning that women cannot validly be ordained as deacons.[3][4][5] Pope Francis has more recently stated that “with regards to the ordination of women, the church has spoken and says no…That door is closed.”[6]

Source: Wikipedia Article

Hey, it’s a Catholic thing.

I would have no qualms about a female pope, but I seriously doubt she would do anything much different than the males before her. As you see above, divine law is immutable and anyone getting as far as the Papal seat is well-indoctrinated and becomes quite immutable themselves—with few exceptions—kinda like our Presidency. Evolution within the Church is mind-numbingly incremental. It took the Vatican 500 years to finally elect a Jesuit to the papal tiara, for chrissakes.

@Espiritus_Corvus… Now this is a well informed answer worth waiting for thank you for enlightening me on this.

Oh, by the way, the story goes that Pope Joan was discovered when she gave birth to her child, which led to her immediate execution. There are sculptures of her by Gian Lorenzo Bernini at the Basilica in St. Peter’s Square.

@Safie If you want a primary source, check the CCC. Google “CCC on _____” and the first links should bring you there.
I followed the links from @Espiritus_Corvus‘s Wiki article and it brought me to CCC 1577:

”“Only a baptized man (vir) validly receives sacred ordination.” The Lord Jesus chose men (viri) to form the college of the twelve apostles, and the apostles did the same when they chose collaborators to succeed them in their ministry. The college of bishops, with whom the priests are united in the priesthood, makes the college of the twelve an ever-present and ever-active reality until Christ’s return. The Church recognizes herself to be bound by this choice made by the Lord himself. For this reason the ordination of women is not possible.”

If you go to this section in the CCC (link here), scroll down to 1577 and click on the number, it will give you cross references:
CCC 551
CCC 861–862

I went to a Catholic high school not too long ago, and this is what I remembered being taught.

By the way, the CCC stands for the “Catechism of the Catholic Church”, which is a hugh book of doctrines. So, this technically means there is no option, and therefore Catholics should accept this as a truth stemming from their beliefs. In reality, this isn’t the case.

My personal views? The Church has the right to do whatever she wants to do, and it’s not my business to tell them otherwise. It’s not mine or anyone’s right to force them to not be sexist, as long as they don’t infringe on the rights of others (as in, nobody is forcing you to be a part of the Church). If I were to sway the Church towards what I think is “right”, then it’d be the end of the Church as we all know it.

Some of this was addressed in this question.

@filmfann yes i knew the name of the first female pope and a little of why women won’t be accepted, but there’s knowing and really knowing the 2 answers @ Espiritus_Corvus and @dxs above are so well informed more than what i ever knew and added much more in depth info, great input here has certainly enlightened me and given so much more information that i was not aware of, that’s what i was looking for.

@Safie Glad we could help. And welcome to Fluther!

@Safie ^^ That goes for me, too.

Oh, one more thing: Giovanni Boccaccio, one of her contemporaries, wrote extensively about her in his book On Famous Women (De Mulieribus Claris, 1353), According to him, Pope Joan was of the powerful House of Borgia which I think makes her even more intriguing and gives the Church even more incentive to blot her out of history.

Because men usurped the show in the first century, and have made a point of seeing to it that the “flaws” defining the opening days are permanently excluded.

It all boils down to the trinity.
The trinity of bigotry, sexism and misogyny.
Those are the reasons. Anything else is merely rationalisation and window dressing.