Priests suspend YouTube program after making ‘comments in bad taste’ about Pope Francis

 

Four of the six priests who regularly appear in “The Sacristy of the Vendée” program on YouTube. / Credit: Screenshot/Sacristy of the Vendée

ACI Prensa Staff, Mar 7, 2024 / 17:05 pm (CNA).

Father Francisco José Delgado, a Spanish priest who hosts “La Sacristía de la Vendée” (“The Sacristy of the Vendée”) program on YouTube, announced the suspension of the program “until further notice” following the controversy sparked by a “comment in bad taste” made about Pope Francis by one of the priests during a recent episode.

“After much reflection and of our own volition, wanting to avoid putting our bishops in the position of having to make a difficult decision that would grant victory to our enemies, we have decided to make a strategic retreat,” the priest said during a live broadcast March 6.

“Perhaps losing a battle but avoiding losing the war, that is, let no one be mistaken: No one is forcing us to do anything, nor were we forced to apologize, rather we’re taking that step freely so that it is even more evident that we seek nothing but the good of the Church, unlike those who persecute us,” he continued.

“What does this mean in practice? We’re suspending all programs on our ‘Sacristía de la Vendée’ channels until further notice,” the priest of the Archdiocese of Toledo, Spain, explained to viewers.

“It’s a matter of taking in advance the break that we were going to take anyway for Holy Week and extending it indefinitely until we can see that our work doesn’t endanger the fundamental purpose for which we have given our lives many years ago, our priesthood,” he added.

What is ‘La Sacristía de la Vendée’?

“La Sacristía de la Vendée” is a YouTube channel that once a week broadcasts, among other content, a “counterrevolutionary gathering of priests” in which several priests from different dioceses participate.

The Vendée is a region on the west coast of France that resisted the French Revolution of 1789–1799. Most of its priests refused to take the oath affirming the Civil Constitution of the Clergy, which effectively subordinated the French Catholic Church to the revolutionary government. A bloody civil war ensued, which the Vendeans lost.

The priests who usually take part are Father Gabriel Calvo Zarraute, Father Francisco José Delgado, and Father Rodrigo Menéndez Piñar, all from the Archdiocese of Toledo in Spain; Father Juan Manuel Góngora from the Diocese of Almería, Spain; Father Roylan Recio from the Diocese of Colorado Springs, Colorado; and Father Francisco Torres from the Diocese of Plasencia, Spain.

What did the priests say about Pope Francis?

During the Feb. 22 broadcast of the program, Delgado referenced the feast of the day, the Chair of St. Peter, stating that this was a day “to pray for the Petrine office of the Successor of Peter.” Góngora, in his initial greeting, encouraged on the occasion of that feast that viewers be “united in truth and fidelity to the Holy Father and praying for him, for his person and intentions.”

In his presentation, Calvo added: “I also pray a lot for the pope, so that he can go to heaven as soon as possible,” to which Delgado added: “It’s one of the things you can pray for anyone.”

Next, Father Charles Murr, an American priest invited to the program, was introduced and said that he joined with “Father Gabriel Calvo’s prayers for the Holy Father,” to which Calvo replied: “There are many of us with that intention.” It was then that Delgado added: “Well, perhaps we’ll be praying harder.”

The priests apologize

On Feb. 28, the Archdiocese of Toledo demanded that the priests of the “La Sacristía de la Vendée” apologize for the comments made “in bad taste” on the Feb. 22 broadcast, which they did in a Feb. 28 post on X.

“We’re sorry for the unfortunate comment said in jest about ‘praying for the pope to go to heaven as soon as possible,’” the priests said in the post. “It was a comment in bad taste and although it does not express the wish for the pope to die, as some media have maliciously portrayed, we understand that it can be understood that way.”

In their statement they expressed their “adherence to Pope Francis, in the same terms in which it was clearly expressed in the program of last Feb. 15. We reject attacks against the pope and the unity of the Church and those who deny the legitimacy of the pope’s ministry.”

‘Don’t stop praying for us’

Toward the end of the broadcast on March 6, after announcing that each of the program participants will continue with their individual apostolic projects online, Delgado asked viewers to “not stop praying for us,” because “above everything else we need this: the power of prayer and fasting is powerful enough to expel the demons that are attacking us in these times.”

“Persevere in good and reject evil, and have for us the mercy that has been denied to us by those who have turned that divine attribute into a sad publicity gimmick,” Delgado concluded.

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.


If you value the news and views Catholic World Report provides, please consider donating to support our efforts. Your contribution will help us continue to make CWR available to all readers worldwide for free, without a subscription. Thank you for your generosity!

Click here for more information on donating to CWR. Click here to sign up for our newsletter.


About Catholic News Agency 12509 Articles
Catholic News Agency (www.catholicnewsagency.com)

3 Comments

  1. By actually pulling their podcast off the air of their own volition made the bishop of Toledo and the Vatican itself look like fools. Just as foolish as how the vatican looked by removing the Ordinary of the diocese of Tyler TX.

  2. “It was a comment in bad taste, and, although it does not express the wish for the Pope to die, as some media has maliciously portrayed, we understand that it can be understood that way.”

    Just one question – How ELSE do you think that it would be portrayed?

  3. St. Peter had, at some point, to own the deviance that St. Paul corrected in him.

    Peter was not explicit in the way he went about the deviance; it was not a publicized profession and, in fact, Peter never mentions it in the Council. It would have been enough in the case for him to have amended his way with equal measures of privacy. Neither did Peter persist using the affair to build up with his own “majesty”.

    ‘ The Pope observed that proud people are easy to recognize. “You realize that you are dealing with a proud person,” Pope Francis said, “when, on offering him a little constructive criticism, or making a completely harmless remark, he reacts in an exaggerated manner, as if someone had offended ‘his majesty.'”

    …..

    In the Gospels, the Holy Father recalled, Jesus deals with a lot of proud people, as he remembered how the Lord often exposed this vice “even in people who hid it very well.”

    “Salvation,” the Pope said, “comes through humility,” calling it “the true remedy for every act of pride.”

    In this context, the Holy Father reminded the faithful that God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble. ‘

    https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2024-03/pope-francis-general-audience-6-march-2024-vice-pride.html

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.

All comments posted at Catholic World Report are moderated. While vigorous debate is welcome and encouraged, please note that in the interest of maintaining a civilized and helpful level of discussion, comments containing obscene language or personal attacks—or those that are deemed by the editors to be needlessly combative or inflammatory—will not be published. Thank you.


*