Anti-Abortion Priest Pavone Defrocked for Blasphemous Posts

frank pavone
FILE - Frank Pavone, head of Priests for Life, gives the Homily during a mass at Ave Maria University's Oratory in Naples, Fla., on March 31, 2009 to recognize the fourth anniversary of Terri Schiavo's death. The Vatican has defrocked an anti-abortion U.S. priest, Frank Pavone, for what it said were “blasphemous communications on social media” as well as “persistent disobedience” of his bishop. A letter to U.S. bishops from the Vatican ambassador to the U.S., Archbishop Christophe Pierre, obtained Sunday Dec. 18, 2022, said the decision against Pavone, who heads the anti-abortion group Priests for Life, had been taken Nov. 9, and that there was no chance for an appeal. (Greg Kahn/Naples Daily News via AP, File)

Share

In his letter, Pierre cited information from the Congregation for Clergy that Pavone had been laicized — he can no longer present himself as a priest — after being found guilty in a canonical proceeding “of blasphemous communications on social media and of persistent disobedience of the lawful instructions of his diocesan bishop.” The letter was first reported by Catholic News Agency.

The statement said Pavone was given “ample opportunity to defend himself” as well as to submit to his bishop. “It was determined that Father Pavone had no reasonable justification for his actions.”

The statement concluded that since Priests for Life is not a Catholic organization, it would be up to the group to determine whether he could continue his role “as a lay person.”

Laicization, or being reduced to the lay state, is one of the harshest sanctions in the church’s canon law for priests.

This article originally appeared here

Continue Reading...

Read more

Latest Articles