Pope Francis said the Catholic Church probably will continue banning women forever from serving as priests, according to journalists who were traveling on a plane with him Tuesday.

According to the National Catholic Reporter, a Swedish journalist on the plane asked, “Is it realistic to think that there might be women priests ... in the next few decades?”

When Francis said no, the journalist reportedly asked, “But really forever? Never?”

The pope reportedly replied, “If we read carefully the declaration made by St. John Paul II, it goes in that direction.”