1 year ago
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VATICAN CITY -- The Vatican has defrocked an anti-abortion U.S. priest, Frank Pavone, for what it said were “blasphemous communications connected societal media” arsenic good arsenic “persistent disobedience” of his bishop who repeatedly told him to halt his partisan activism for Donald Trump.
A missive to U.S. bishops from the Vatican ambassador to the U.S., Archbishop Christophe Pierre, obtained Sunday, said that the determination against Pavone, who heads the anti-abortion radical Priests for Life, had been taken Nov. 9, and that determination was nary accidental for an appeal.
Pavone has been successful struggle with the bishop of Amarillo, Texas, for implicit a decennary implicit his pro-life and partisan governmental activities that came to a caput successful 2016 erstwhile helium enactment an aborted fetus connected an altar and posted a video of it connected 2 societal media sites. The video was accompanied by a station saying that Hillary Clinton and the Democratic level would let termination to proceed and that Trump and the Republican level wanted to support unborn children.
Even earlier then, Pavone successfully appealed 2011 restrictions connected his ministry that Amarillo Bishop Patrick Zurek had placed connected him.
Pavone remained a steadfast protagonist of Trump and successful 2020 disputed the result of the election won by Joe Biden. Ahead of the election, the Amarillo diocese denounced Pavone's usage of societal media for governmental ends, distanced the diocese from him and said his positions weren't accordant with Catholic teaching.
Pavone relocated from Amarillo and was allowed to determination to Colorado Springs, Colorado. His Twitter grip inactive features him wearing a “MAGA” chapeau with a inheritance photograph of erstwhile President Trump, who is praised by galore conservatives for his Supreme Court nominees who helped overturn the law close to termination successful the United States.
In a tweet Sunday, Pavone sounded defiant, comparing his destiny to that of the unborn.
“So successful each profession, including the priesthood, if you support the #unborn, you volition beryllium treated similar them! The lone quality is that erstwhile we are ‘aborted,’ we proceed to speak, large and clear.”
He aboriginal appeared successful a societal media video wearing a achromatic leather biker overgarment implicit his priestly collar against a faux backdrop of St. Peter's Basilica vowing that the anti-abortion “war” would proceed and denouncing the “cancel culture” of the religion that helium said had persecuted him for decades.
In a connection connected his Priest For Life website, helium said that his laicization was “the effect of an abusive process” and that helium was considering unspecified ineligible enactment against unnamed U.S. bishops.
His supporters instantly denounced the defrocking, including the bishop of Tyler, Texas, Joseph Strickland, who referred to U.S. President Joe Biden’s enactment for termination rights arsenic “evil.”
“The blasphemy is that this beatified clergyman is canceled portion an evil president promotes the denial of information & the execution of the unborn astatine each turn, Vatican officials beforehand immorality & denial of the deposit of religion & priests beforehand sex disorder devastating lives…evil," Strickland tweeted.
In his letter, Pierre cited accusation from the Congregation for Clergy that Pavone had been laicized — helium tin nary longer contiguous himself arsenic a clergyman — aft being recovered blameworthy successful a canonical proceeding “of blasphemous communications connected societal media and of persistent disobedience of the lawful instructions of his diocesan bishop.” The missive was archetypal reported by Catholic News Agency.
The connection said Pavone was fixed “ample accidental to support himself” arsenic good arsenic to taxable to his bishop. “It was determined that Father Pavone had nary tenable justification for his actions.”
The connection concluded that since Priests for Life is not a Catholic organization, it would beryllium up to the radical to find whether helium could proceed his relation “as a laic person.”
Laicization, oregon being reduced to the laic state, is 1 of the harshest sanctions successful the church's canon instrumentality for priests.
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