The Vatican on Tuesday reaffirmed a long-standing rule that only an ordained priest or deacon can give a sermon at a Catholic mass, rejecting a request from German bishops to broaden the practice and allow sermons by women or other laypeople.

"The current discipline cannot be dispensed from," said a release from the Vatican's Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, which oversees worship by the world's 1.4 billion Catholics.

Many Catholic masses include a sermon, where a priest or a deacon offers a reflection on the day's Bible readings. The German bishops' conference had asked earlier this year for permission for laypeople to also offer sermons.

The German request echoed sentiments from many bishops in the U.S. and other European countries, who say many laypeople are as capable of preaching as priests. They often cite a desire to hear sermons from women, who cannot be ordained in the Catholic Church.

The Vatican did not provide its full response to the German bishops, only a press release summarizing its decision.

"The reservation of the homily to a priest or deacons is not a merely disciplinary norm but derives from the very nature of the liturgy," the release said.

The Catholic Church teaches that during a mass, a priest acts "in persona Christi" (in the person of Christ), and it is God who acts through the priest during worship.

Laypeople are allowed to give sermons at prayer services outside of a mass.