Dennis, the Papal pronouncements against women priests are just the tip of the iceberg. 

More damaging is the idea that a priest is "in persona Christi Capitis," meaning that he represents Jesus the Head of the Christ. Such is 'clericalism,' and a recently blossomed idea with Vatican II documents. It comes from 2 Co 2:10 which is mistranslated in the Vulgate to mean "in the person of" (but now correctly translated in the Catholic NABRE on the Vatican website to mean "in the presence of"). Aquinas wrote one sentence on the mistranslation (thinking it was correct). Pius XII in 1947 wrote briefly on Aquinas' sentence. However, the Baltimore Catechism has nothing on "in persona." It means the priest is like unto a god, and a representative of Jesus no less. It makes the priest a High Priest, a Bridegroom, a Jesus-Head. All male figures. See #1548 in the Catechism for history. 

I have not heard Francis specifically endorse the argument ’12 apostles were male.’ But he defers to JPII