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In a move that stunned conservative Catholics across the world, Fr. Frank Pavone has officially been defrocked by the Catholic church.
As reported by Catholic News Agency, a letter was sent out on Dec. 13 to all bishops in the United States. This letter came directly from Papal Nuncio Fr. Christophe Pierre, the Pope’s personal representative in America, and detailed the reasons Pavone was laicized.
Pavone is accused of “blasphemous communications on social media” and “persistent disobedience of the lawful instructions of his diocesan bishop,” but the letter does not elaborate on what the examples used were.
Attached to the letter in a separate statement, the Prefect of the Dicastery for the Clergy said there was “no possibility of appeal,” meaning the decision came from the Pope himself.
The letter continued, accusing Pavone of insubordination.
“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.”
Pavone is the National Director of Priests for Life, a pro-life organization not run by the Catholic church.
Many within the church came to Pavone’s aid, including Bishop Joseph Strickland of Tyler, Texas, who tweeted out his support for Pavone.
“The blasphemy is that this holy priest is canceled while an evil president promotes the denial of truth & the murder of the unborn at every turn,” Strickland wrote. “Vatican officials promote immorality & denial of the deposit of faith & priests promote gender confusion devastating lives … evil,”
Strickland highlighted some of the growing unrest within the Catholic church, as Pope Francis has embraced left-leaning causes and resistance to the pro-life movement.
While Pavone’s detractors have called out his political campaigning for Donald Trump as unlawful within the church, he is far from the first Catholic priest to do so.
In fact, when Father James Martin, editor of the Jesuit magazine America, spoke out in favor of same-sex marriage and openly speaks out against the church’s teachings on homosexuality and traditional marriage, not a thing happened to him.
While his immediate superiors were alarmed by his rhetoric, that was strictly against church teaching, the Pope instead met with Martin last month and praised his teachings and told him to “continue this way.”
This anti-biblical worldview the Pope appears to hold reared its head again earlier this year when he met with self-described Catholic, Nancy Pelosi, at the Vatican.
Pelosi’s fervent protection of abortion anti-life views had seen her banned from receiving communion by her local Archbishop, Salvatore Cordileone.
With the Catholic church’s continued silence and coverups of past sexual abuse scandals and leadership that is commonly accused of being a socialist and more pro-abortion than pro-life, is there little wonder as to why the church’s congregation is declining?
What does the Pope’s actions and pro-abortion appointees, like pro-abortion advocate Mariana Mazzucato to the Pontifical Academy for Life, say about the future of the Catholic church?
Perhaps it is time for Christians worldwide to pray that the Catholic church has another reformation and turn back towards the teachings of Jesus Christ. If not, it could be used by Satan as the building blocks of his own worldwide church aimed at drawing people away from Christ instead of pulling them towards Him. {eoa}
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James Lasher is Staff Writer for Charisma Media.
