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BREAKING: Vatican dismisses Father Frank Pavone from priesthood

Fr. Frank Pavone is pictured in front of the U.S. Supreme Court during the March for Life in Washington in this 2009 file photo. (CNS photo/Bob Roller) (Sept. 13, 2011)

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Dec 17, 2022 / 17:05 pm (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.

The communication from Pierre does not specify the actions that led to Pavone’s dismissal or name the bishop he disobeyed.

The statement refers to Pavone as “Mr. Pavone” and calls him “a lay person,” underscoring the dramatic and immediate nature of the Vatican’s action.

“Since Priests for Life, Inc. is not a Catholic organization, Mr. Pavone’s continuing role in it as a lay person would be entirely up to the leadership of that organization,” the statement says.

Pavone is still saying Masses, including one streamed online Saturday. The Priests for Life website states that Pavone “is a Catholic priest in good standing, and exercises his ministry in full communion with the Catholic Church.”

In an email to CNA on Saturday, Pavone said that he was not aware of the Vatican’s action.

“How did CNA learn about this before I did?” he asked. In a subsequent email he added that CNA’s inquiry was “the very first communication that came to me about this.”

It is not clear in what diocese Pavone, 63, is incardinated as a priest. On the Priests for Life website, it says he received permission from the Vatican in 2019 to transfer from the Diocese of Amarillo, Texas, where he was incardinated in 2005, to another, unnamed diocese.

Pavone hosted the show “Defending Life” on EWTN for many years until the Bishop of Amarillo, Texas, revoked Pavone’s permission to appear on the Network. EWTN is the parent organization of CNA.

A history of clashes with hierarchy

Originally based in Staten Island, New York, Priests for Life is now headquartered in Titusville, Florida, within the Diocese of Orlando. That diocese, also, did not respond to CNA’s request for comment Saturday.

Pavone has served as the pro-life organization’s national director since 1993.

In that role he has a long history of conflicts with bishops, beginning more than 20 years ago with the late Cardinal Edward Egan of the Archdiocese of New York. Egan succeeded the late Cardinal John J. O’Connor, who ordained Pavone in 1988 and encouraged his pro-life work.

In his email, Pavone directed CNA to a document posted on his personal website titled “Summary of How Fr. Frank and Priests for Life Have Been Treated by Some in the Hierarchy.”

“We all expect that the pro-abortion groups, like Planned Parenthood, will target, harass and try to intimidate us. And they do try,” he wrote.

“But when such treatment comes from bishops and other Church authorities — which it increasingly does — it’s particularly deplorable,” he added. “Instead of supporting and encouraging the pro-life work of the Church, some of these men try to obstruct and hinder it, and abuse their authority to try to intimidate priests and laity who make ending abortion the top priority of our lives.”

Pavone has been at odds with Bishop Patrick J. Zurek in Amarillo since the latter became bishop there in 2008. In 2011, Zurek publicly suspended Pavone, though Pavone later had the suspension overruled by the Vatican. The Amarillo Diocese did not respond to CNA’s requests for comment prior to publication.

Pavone’s political activism played a role in his problems in Amarillo.

An outspoken supporter of former president Donald Trump, Pavone served on official Trump campaign outreach positions in 2016, and was originally a co-chair of Trump’s 2020 pro-life coalition, as well as an advisory board member of Catholics for Trump. Canon law forbids clerics from having an active role in political parties unless they receive the permission of their bishop.

In November 2016, Pavone filmed a video at the Priests for Life headquarters, urging support for Trump. The video was staged with the body of an aborted baby laid before Pavone on what appeared to be an altar.

Zurek said soon after the video’s release that he would open an investigation into the incident, calling it “against the dignity of human life” and “a desecration of the altar,” adding that “the action and presentation of Father Pavone in this video is not consistent with the beliefs of the Catholic Church.”

On his website, Pavone details his version of what happened in the video. He also has posted a transcript of what he said on the video.

“Much of the criticism revolved around my having placed the baby on an “altar” and some started getting into technical complaints about what should or should not be done with an altar. But to the extent that they want to get technical, so can I, and I pointed out that this was a table in our office, not a consecrated altar in a chapel,” he wrote.

“That table, sometimes used for Mass, was also the place where all my videos in this educational series of election broadcasts were made,” he continued. “In retrospect, I should have made the baby video in a different location so as to avoid any confusion to begin with.”

Pavone wrote in his account that the baby’s remains were given to him so he conduct a proper burial, which he said he did after making the video.

Pavone stepped down from the two positions with Trump’s re-election campaign in 2020 at the request of what he called “the competent ecclesiastical authority.” But he continued to use his social media platforms to advocate for Trump and denounce the Democratic Party.

Those posts led to another confrontation with Zurek shortly before the 2020 election.

In tweets that were subsequently deleted, Pavone reportedly called then Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden a “[expletive] loser” and said the Democratic party was “God-hating” and “America-hating” and that Biden’s supporters “can’t say a [expletive] thing in support of their loser candidate without using the word Trump.”

“What the hell do you have to say for yourselves, losers?” Pavone asked.

Pavone also reportedly tweeted that he would hear the confession of a Catholic who votes Democrat, “but we are trained that in the absence of repentance, absolution has to be withheld.”

In response, the Amarillo Diocese issued a statement disavowing Pavone’s comments, saying he used “scandalous words not becoming of a Catholic priest.”

“These postings are not consistent with Catholic Church Teachings,” the diocese said in its statement. “Please disregard them and pray for Father Pavone.”


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56 Comments

    • As does Cardinal Paglia, who, in addition to desecrating the Pontifical Academy for Life, was just discovered to have used hundreds of thousands of charitable contributions to renovate his apartment. No news yet of his dismissal from the clerical state. Very tragic for those trying to be faithful Catholics when the Vatican can not be trusted.

    • Your thinking is very childish. You’re using the so-called “what-aboutism” argument commonly used by children. When confronted for a misdeed, the child points to a sibling or another kid for doing a similar or heavier misdeed. Frank Pavone’s celebrity status among the anti-abortion movement and the MAGA camp must have entered into his mind and thought he’s superior than or indispensable to his bishop so he has been disobeying and defying persistently “the lawful instructions of his diocesan bishop.” Pavone’s defrocking is not because of his advocacy or politics but due to his persistent disobedience. At ordination, priests vow obedience to their bishop or superior. Multitudes of priests, almost all non-celebrities, routinely get defrocked for disobedience. Martin with his different advocacy has remained obedient to his superior. Pavone has through the years broken his vow of obedience.

      • Documentation & substantiation, please!
        Unless you were sitting in the pope’s lap when he issued his command to laicize Father Pavone, you assume too much.

      • Deacon you are way off. Martin is disobedient to God Himself by advocating for the LGBTQ community. And your claim of childish tactics you are guilty of here by applying them yourself to others by implying they are childish. Think about this.

        • This is ugly, he first founded Priests for life making you think that he was better than the other priests, this movement created a lot of division in the Church and in society… Yes the Church is pro life, but it also has the feet on the ground knowing that it is not a political issue to oversimplify. Ask any doctors how complex the situation is if someone has a dangerous disease. Then Frank Pavone was disciplined based on the millions he received promoting a political party in some way and creating hate towards the other, real hate. Then the disobediance and all that… This is ugly, very ugly. Younger I thought he was a hero, I am pro life, but I am also intelligent enough to understand we should never oversimplify situations because we will do more wrong than good sometimes!

          • “Yes the Church is pro life, but it also has the feet on the ground knowing that it is not a political issue to oversimplify.”

            Actually, the Church indicates clearly that it is quite simple: “Since the first century the Church has affirmed the moral evil of every procured abortion. This teaching has not changed and remains unchangeable. Direct abortion, that is to say, abortion willed either as an end or a means, is gravely contrary to the moral law…” (CCC, 2271).

  1. I have reviewed the reports I could find this early into the development, and I have also read a statement by Fr. Pavone that contains a relevant interview with Dr. Deal Hudson posted on his personal webpage that sets forth the dates of the interview “between the end of 2021 and mi-2022. This interview looks like a response in advance to what finally happened, because Fr. Pavone makes mention of the danger of him possibly being laicized, so perhaps he heard from some grapevine that this action was picking up steam.

    Moreover, a few hours ago, Fr. Pavone posted a video I picked up on Twitter, and in it he openly addresses what he believes make up the rationale for the claims about his use of language declared to be “blasphemous.”

    From what I have read and heard thus far, this looks like it was indeed part of a mission of Bishop Zurek and others to get Fr. Pavone removed from the priesthood, and they finally succeeded. And of course, whenever it suits their purposes, those in charge of making such moves will point out some error or oversight or lack of obedience involving the offending party, and this is precisely what the statements out of the Vatican are claiming about Fr. Perrone. In response, the following is the Twitter statement by Bishop Strickland:

    Bishop J. Strickland
    @Bishopoftyler

    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, Vatican officials promote immorality & denial of the deposit of faith & priests promote gender confusion devastating lives…evil

    • Great point. As our world is falling apart morally and economically, It appears that a priest that has stepped up in this spiritual battle is excommunicated by a Pope that says he personally is a communist. All leadership should do some serious soul searching and decide which side they-are on in this Spiritual Battle.

    • Bishop Strickland praise to you and your courageous efforts. It’s impossible to deny anything you’ve stated here.
      Why are Pelosi and Biden welcomed with open arms, while a moral, faithful priest is targeted and attacked?
      This is an abomination!

    • Doc!

      I found Bishop Strickland’s Twitter statement which you quoted above very heartening.

      There are at least a few bishops who are true shepherds.

      I thought Bishop Strickland’s words bore repeating:

      Bishop J. Strickland
      @Bishopoftyler

      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, Vatican officials promote immorality & denial of the deposit of faith & priests promote gender confusion devastating lives…evil

  2. I was planning to compile a list of all the priests and prelates that have gotten away with murder in the last 50 years, murder only being partly metaphorical. But my computer would used up its memory. I suspect Father Pavone (I don’t respect the Vatican’s authority to be immoral in their decision making, so I’ll still call him Father.) is an embarrassment to an institution that has taken to heart Francis’ early admonishment that we not be “obsessed with abortion.” After all, those mountains of corpses might divert attention from important things like “catching up” with secular homosexuality worship and science abuses that service global tyranny.

  3. Well, at least he didn’t rape nuns as did a Jesuit recently admit.

    Well, at least he didn’t molest underage pubescent boys in the parish as has numerous priests and bishops in the Church.

    Well, at least he didn’t steal money at the Vatican that was intended for the poor and divert it to his own use to renovate his apartment as did one archbishop at the Vatican.

    Well at least he didn’t impregnate his secretary and send her off to another country to fend for herself in raising her son alone and nearly destitute as did one bishop in Ireland.

    The list goes on and on with incidents of horrendous crimes and mortal sins among clergy who, when it was found out, were either:
    1. shuntered off to another parish to give them cover;
    2. given safe haven in a monastery or retirement facility;
    3. given a promotion by assigning them to a secure job at the Vatican.
    4. Keep his job as bishop of his diocese even after acknowledging (to me personally) that he was having homosexual sex with some of his priests.

    I’m afraid that far too much that’s been happening in the Church of late is motivated not by aspirations of holiness but by pure politics. What we need in the Church are some good Old Testament interventions as wrought by God among a Chosen Race who had apostacized and who had begun to worship false gods.

    I pray for Father Pavone. Only God knows the state of his heart and the only judgment that really counts is God’s. My prayers are with Father Pavone.

  4. Why are we surprised?
    Cupich, toobin, Gregory, Farrell: the Mr mccarrick bois, along with lmnopqrst-e-p Martin, S(swishy)j(jesuistas) are having their gay pride floats set up & faithful Catholic priests are being destroyed…

  5. I don’t know what word Fr Pavone used…why it isn’t printed is silly .,, some sort of pretentious delicacy..,, if it was the f word then it is merely vulgar and unfit language for a priest. It is not blasphemy.
    We first saw Fr Pavone many years ago at the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception on DC for a pro-life activity. We had taken my aged mother – there was no March yet perhaps or at least we had no part in it. The pews on the right side of the Church were roped off for diocesan clergy. The pews were empty…. Per the bishop one might surmise. Fr Pavone gave a passionate talk and gave hope and inspiration to the people who troubled themselves to attend.
    That he has been laicized by this vindictive and two faced pope while the priestly purveyors of sodomy are glorified should indicate to even the most obtuse bishop why so many other pews are now empty.
    May the Beloved One have Mercy on His suffering Church.
    God bless Fr Pavone.

  6. I’ve thought and prayed about this since I heard the news.

    While it is amazing the pro-life work this man has done, it is ultimately the pro-life message and not the pro-life messenger that we need to keep promoting. Us messengers and servants of the Truth must always keep this in mind.

  7. Something sounds very strange here. Individual judgments, penalties, etc., are ALWAYS open to appeal. ALWAYS. To claim otherwise is to say that there are sins that in human terms cannot be forgiven. Infallible DOCTRINAL matters are, of course, another matter, but even there in individual cases there is nothing that is irrevocable, and the judges themselves must admit the possibility of error on their part. To claim otherwise is to claim power that belongs to God alone and make the type of judgment that is reserved only to God.

    I’ve met with Fr. Pavone, and he seemed reasonable. I don’t say I agree with everything he’s done or said, but that’s a personal judgment on my part, not an infallible declaration. There does, however, seem to be a double standard operating here.

    • As people may have heard by now, apparently Pope Francis made this decision, so it is unappealable as he is the highest authority. Forgiveness of the alleged sin of disobedience is still, of course, available, but his status as a priest is not up for appeal unless Francis changes his mind.

  8. “Through some fissure the smoke of Satan has entered the temple of God.”
    — Pope St. Paul VI in 1972

    It is no longer just smoke; it is a conflagration. And it does not burn mindlessly. It seeks out holiness, goodness and orthodoxy to consume first.

  9. The newest member of the Coalition for Canceled Priests.

    Zurek and his episcopal comrades will all have much to answer for during their particular judgments.

  10. One could argue that Fr. Pavone was slightly overzealous in his defense of life.

    But, considering what’s at stake and that more than a billion babies have been slaughtered worldwide over the past 50 years (the population of the U.S. times three!), it’s difficult to see how a few choice epithets are in any way objectionable.

    The Democratic Party is every bit as evil as Fr. Pavone says it is — and exponentially more.

    Truly, it would make more sense to defrock all the priests who act with more decorum and less passion than Fr. Pavone than it does to defrock him.

    Our Church is cooperating with evil in so many, many ways.

  11. Many faithful priests persist in pro-life work serving in parishes, and doing the work for which they were ordained. Political advocacy, heading groups is the work of lay people. Not priests.

    What a waste, when Mr Pavone could have served in a parish, being pro-life with couples who suffered a miscarriage, with families of an older parent spiraling into dementia, in communities suffering violence, supporting the synagogue down the street vandalized by graffiti. And what is left? A social media influencer. Anybody can do that job.

    • Look. Todd.

      Fighting for the lives of hundreds of millions of precious, beautiful, irreplaceable, unrepeatable, infinitely generable children is not, as you call it, “political advocacy.”

      Viewing the issue the way you do says a lot about how you would have felt about World War II, in which the Allied powers opposed the Nazis over a number of “political” activities, e.g., the attempted genocide of Jews throughout Europe.

      I find your characterization of the issue most offensive.

    • Not everyone can do the job of ‘social media influencer.’ Have you had any influence in this forum? Sure you have, and it’s all in the negative sense. Keep up your negative work, Todd, and you will travel far into deeper depths of meaningless. It is hoped that one day you will see a ray of light.

      • There are “red lines” for all ordained men. When Cardinals Martini and Daneels publicly promoted abortion, they suffered no penalty, not even to their reputation. Some other carddinal, at the least, should have sent a shock wave through the Church and punched one or both of them in the nose.

  12. Whether or not the Bishop’s and the Vatican’s actions are justified and warranted is not mine to judge as I have very little knowledge of the issue. But is it any wonder priests don’t trust their bishops, religious superiors, or the Vatican? The institutional Church is extremely corrupt and dysfunctional beginning with the pope. That CNA broke the news to Fr. Pavone is an unconscionable case in point.

  13. Again, punishment to the wrong @-Real PRIEST! Stop the shenanigans, dismiss those desecrating the holy eucharist, those teaching Falsehoods, those taunting & misrepresenting the Holy Word of God…! You Amarillo Bishop, Patrick J. Zurek should be the one to step down from office! Shane on pope Francis, on his birthday to drop us another bomb!

    • History is written by the Victors. Had this Priest opposed Trump supporters, he would still be in active ministry. Had he been a member of the Pee-dough Protectoriat, he would have been called to serve in Rome.

      The Modernist Apostasy hijacked the Catholic Church in 1958. From the Defender of The Faith it has been mutated into the flying Buttress supporting the Anti-City of New World Order Totalitarianism.

      Bergoglio’s openly supported Deomocrat Candidat has waged war on God via Rainbow Ideology. Bergoglio has enabled this International Freemason to impose a Neo-Nazism that is mutilating the souls, minds, and bodies of Children. A Totalitarian Dystopia unimaginable before 2013.

      “Who am I to judge” =
      “It’s a free world, why should I care?”

      Either a Catholic Jesuit is pretending to be a freemason or a Freemason is masquarading as “the Second Bishop in White, that’s me” (Bergoglio, Fatima, 13.05.2017).

      The genocide of 300 million members of Western civilisation in building this Freemasonic Empire since 1789 means nothing to certain Popes since 1958: and everything to those from Pius V to Pius XII. WHY?

  14. How many more priests who have been and are following their vows, practicing their faith and shepherding the flock against evil, will be suspended or laicized for “disobedience”? Meanwhile, virtually the entire heirarchy of the German Catholic church are in heresy, continued to disobey their vows and “possibly” the Holy Father (that is not a certainty since Pope Francis seems to be ambivalent or not serious about correction). How many more good priests who have “disobeyed” orders from Bishops who are questionable in their actions and orders, will be suspended from faculties. Meanwhile we the flock, the body of Christ suffers from lack of holy priests from Bishops and Cardinals who allow a Fr. Martin, allow the German heirarchy and others to destroy the truth of our faith, who want to change God’s laws for the sake of secularism. We are on the way to an underground Catholic Church that is Truth In Christ Jesus, may we all be helped and strengthened to fight the evil that exists in our Church today

    • There is no need to wonder about this. Under Pope Francis, Sheen would have been ordered to silence, to placate the likes of James Martin.

  15. This papacy with its notorious advisers, Parolin and Paglia, needs to end.

    Father James Martin has gone much further politically in the service of heterodoxy than Father Pavone in the service of Life.

  16. (1)
    I wish Fr.Pavone had done more to “play the game” of church politics, so as to avoid laicization. Laicization, even when done by misguided or corrupt bishops, is still a big deal and a disaster.
    (2)
    Fr. Pavone should have foreseen that his laicization would hurt the pro-life cause by intimidating other priests and confusing the laity.
    (3)
    I can’t help but think that by some displays of humility and docility toward bishops, Fr. Pavone could have remained a priest and also could have continued to spread awareness that human fetuses are human beings and ought not be murdered.
    (4)
    Forgive me for this wild speculation, but given the attitude of insolence and contempt that Fr. Pavone sometimes expresses toward bishops and toward Francis (there are ways to express strong disagreement without an attiude of contempt and villification), I can’t help but wonder if, somewhat like the once famous Fr. John Corapi, Fr. Pavone was overtaken by the lure of being a celebrity, and really didn’t want to be a priest anymore.
    (5)
    Being a member of any organization always requires some degree of obedience, submission, conformity, denial of self, and some “playing the game” of politics.
    (6)
    Abortion is a monumental disaster, which is the shame of our nation.
    (7)
    Fr. Pavone seems like a lost soul, which is a shame for a priest of God.

    • “Go along to get along”. Is why we are here today. If Fr. Pavone’s work is true “ standing tall” is defending your heart’s beliefs. Sometimes this hurts. God bless

  17. I do not follow the pro-life movement in any strong way and am not familiar with Father Pavone. However this seems to be another double standard at play with his immediate dismissal. Plenty of priests have been caught with their hand in the collection plate, girlfriends, boyfriends, and in the midst of pedophile activities. As far as I hear, NONE were dismissed immediately. Its odd they do not recount what “disobedience ” was so significant that it could not be resolved in any other, less drastic, way. Traditional and conservative Catholics will not approve of this church action to silence a pro-life priest, especially when by contrast, pro-death politicians get an approving pat on the head from the Pope himself. One imagines the disaffected Catholics will vote with their check-books. With so little detail its hard to know how FATHER Pavone got to this spot. Possibly his threat not to absolve democrat voters ( a course of action that could logically be argued) got under someones skin. Was he considered too political ( which appears not to bother the church as long as the politics are supportive of the LEFT)? What exactly was the “disobedience? And why could he not be penalized if something over the line happened by a change of assignment or mandatory time at a monastary to think things over? We are already too short of priests to be firing them willy-nilly. Overall I think this is needlessly cruel treatment of a man who has evidently devoted his life to the priesthood and has been trying to save the lives of innocent babies. This totally undermines the Pope’s pushing of the concept of “mercy”. I will wager that the Bishop who had Father Pavone canned is a democrat himself. The “me first” behavior is so typical of the breed.

  18. The Chinese regime remains in good standing with the Vatican
    German bishops remain in good standing with the Vatican
    President Biden remains in good standing with the Vatican
    The good standing standard seems to shift with ideological orientation. Not encouraging.

    • You see people as pure evil because of people such as Frank Pavone that you see as a hero. Yes we have to be pro life, but the issue here is your misunderstanding and over simplification of the political realm (Frank Pavone was receiving millions and millions in the end to promote hate towards a party and greatness for another who let’s say it, is far to have all the answers for life. It’s far from being something simple). Hence you condemn and judge people easily and harshly, that’s the issue here over other issues in society…

  19. Valuable background here from Phil Lawler:

    Father Pavone says that he has answered every question the bishop asked about the finances of PFL. Bishop Zurek disputes that point, charging that PFL has managed to “rebuff my every attempt at calling for financial transparency.” How can we judge those two contradictory claims? The audited financial reports of PFL, which Father Pavone has now made public, provide a few clues. Last year PFL showed a $1.4 million budget deficit, and the group’s available cash balances dropped by over a half-million dollars. The latest PFL budget figures show an enormous $879,000 loan to Gospel of Life Ministries: another effort with which Father Pavone is personally involved. If those funds are not repaid, PFL faces an immediate financial crisis. Bishop Zurek has good reason to be worried about Father Pavone’s financial stewardship.

    But financial reports only record the sums that were raised and spent; they do not necessarily tell how and why they were raised and spent. Therein lies the larger problem.

    When he brought PFL to Amarillo, Father Pavone had ambitious plans to build a seminary there, and found a new religious order dedicated to pro-life activism. He raised enormous sums of money from donors who were encouraged to support that religious order and help build that seminary. But the seminary was never built, and within a couple of years the religious order had been disbanded.

    In a revealing Amarillo television interview, Father Pavone admitted that much of the money raised for the seminary had been spent on “the things we did”—the operating expenses of PFL. Since the $10 million annual budget of PFL dwarfs the budget of the Amarillo diocese, it is eminently understandable that diocesan officials—who were hoping that a new seminary would provide benefits for their own pastoral work—would ask pointed questions about those “things we did.”

    Read the entire piece.

    • Interesting. Transparency is important on how the funds are spent. A detailed list of expenses etc, is warranted. I say this a someone who supports PFL.

    • Your reference to Philip Lawler’s article was very informative and provided background. However, it is eleven years old, and the instances he sites may or may not still be relevant. Certainly, obedience is an issue. But for some reason I am reminded of Mother Angelica’s response when told that the bishops would like to take over EWTN. She said that she would burn it down first.

      • Good points, Crusader. Indeed, the financial situation involving Priests For Life was satisfactorily resolved many years ago, and so the Lawler piece has little or no relevance to the current situation involving the laicization of Fr. Pavone.

        If the financial concerns were still in play, then Fr. Pavone would have been in greater hot water over the past 5 plus years for that alone than he obviously was, plus there is no mention of financial wrongdoing as part of the stated rationale for Fr. Pavone’s laicization.

        In another CNA article now also featured here in Catholic World Report, Canon lawyer Fr. Gerald Murray points out that canon law does not set forth the punishment of laicization for what Fr. Pavone is declared to have done as the rationale for his laicization, and so only the Pope himself can impose the penalty of laicization in the manner such has been imposed on Fr. Pavone.

        Interestingly, Pope Francis very recently made a statement that priests who wish to be more politically involved should give up the priesthood. Did he have Fr. Pavone in mind when making such a statement? And if so, was this the real or at least extra rationale behind the laicization, especially since Fr. Pavone’s positions and advocacy do not line up with the Pope’s approach to politics in many respects?

    • Father Pavone is a Trump MAGA. He belongs to the cult of personality. Yes, I’m sure millions went under the table with lies like Father Pavone’s IDOL Trump.
      There’s always so much there when you start digging. I’m sure the Vatican dug wisely before they exorcised the boil.

      • So appreciation for the fact that actions by President Trump saved more vulnerable lives than those of any individual in the whole of human history is merely an act of idolatry in your value system? Instead you trust the “wisdom” of those who buried all discussion of burying children alive in the Amazon, and who hold conferences that welcome many of the world’s most notorious pro-aborts to preach about “ethics”?

  20. Political and Spiritual leaders are controlled by money and power. Father Pavone and other priests like him are controlled by faith and the rules of the Bible and church teachings. If you don’t like the rules don’t belong to the club.

  21. Hello

    The strongest supporters for Life for the unborn are people who were involved at one time with abortion.
    The person called Roe was the first. She never had an abortion.

    No normal person supports the Killing of an American Jew by the cruel, painful, violent death of dismemberment abortion.
    Yet 850,000 American Jews died a violent death of abortion in the USA.

    On page 32 of the 2020 Democratic Party Platform supports the killing of Americans by the cruel, painful, violent death of the many forms of abortion. Democrats should ask their leaders to remove this position.

    At Pittsburg University with the support of Planned Parenthood a baby head was scalped.
    The skin was stitched unto the back of a rat to see if the hair would grow.
    The experiment was a success.
    The baby died.

    Mengele was a doctor in the Nazi time.
    Who did experiments on identical twins.
    After the second world war he escaped to South American.
    He traveled from country to country.
    Always one step ahead of the Massad.
    His job was performing illegal abortions.

    I hope all of you support my position on Life.
    Some are now coming to kill old people.
    That is another story.
    Ora Et Labora
    Carl Lambrecht

  22. Ever since I found out that he was our Pope I was in shock, I knew things were going to change I just didn’t know how bad. In the 1st he’s a jesuits are very political, And a Pope should not be involved in politics that’s not his job. God says You should not kill, So I guess he now believes in abortion now the Pope? He’s not my Pope , I really wish we had John Paul during this time that the world is in crisis. Get rid of a priest who believes in life. I know the faith is not corrupt it’s the people that are corrupt, once again History Repeating itself. We have had corrupt popes before.

  23. the Church continues to defame itself with actions such as these

    our donations will decrease as they corrupt the clergy with false teachings

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  6. BREAKING: Vatican dismisses Father Frank Pavone from priesthood - Catholic World Report - On The Bosom Of Nature

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