Alright, if we’re being honest I could name more than a few priests who disobey Church teaching terribly and yet nothing happens to them. Why, I wonder, is the Vatican focused on ousting Fr. Frank Pavone?
The truth is we don’t know the particulars here but let’s just say my mistrust of the Vatican can not be overstated.
The Vatican referred to him as “Mr. Pavone.”
CNA: Father Frank Pavone, a well-known pro-life activist and national director of the organization Priests for Life, has been dismissed from the clerical state for “blasphemous communications on social media” and “persistent disobedience of the lawful instructions of his diocesan bishop,” CNA has learned.
In a Dec. 13 letter to U.S. bishops obtained by CNA and confirmed by multiple sources as authentic, Archbishop Christophe Pierre, the Apostolic Nuncio to the United States, wrote that the Prefect of the Dicastery for the Clergy issued the decision on Nov. 9, adding that there was “no possibility of appeal.”
“Father Pavone was given ample opportunity to defend himself in the canonical proceedings, and he was also given multiple opportunities to submit himself to the authority of his diocesan bishop,” explains a separate statement attached to Pierre’s letter. “It was determined that Father Pavone had no reasonable justification for his actions.”
Pavone, however, told CNA Saturday that he had not been notified about the Vatican’s judgment.
Pray for Fr. Pavone.
