Father Frank Pavone dedicated his life to unborn babies and preserving life. It was his only agenda by his own account. He now has to protect life outside the priesthood. He’s been kicked out by Pope Francis. Pope Francis should now dump the communist Catholic Charities. That organization is bringing in illegal migrants and making a lot of money doing it.
Father Pavone was dismissed from the priesthood and laicized by Pope Francis for “blasphemous communications on social media” and “persistent disobedience of the lawful instructions of his diocesan bishop.” He said he used the word “G-d damn” in a social media post.
“I used the word G-D in a response to somebody in a tweet and for that, they want to throw me out of the priesthood,” he said.
The Letter
The Prefect of the Dicastery for the Clergy wrote a letter dated November 9, 2022, explaining that the decision by Pope Francis was not open to appeal. Apostolic Nuncio Christophe Pierre communicated this decision to the Bishops of the United States on December 13, 2022. When contacted by the Catholic News Agency on December 17, Pavone told the reporter that it was the first he had heard of the decision.
“I’m waiting for them to point out to me what I did wrong that merits something like this,” he said. And though the Vatican has said there was no possibility of appeal, Mr. Pavone said that ultimately he and his allies “would have to appeal to the next pope” and “to the people of God.”
His Single Issue
In September 2004, Pavone addressed a group of delegates to the Republican National Convention in New York, Pavone said that abortion was the “single issue” for him in the election of 2004 and indicated the politics of abortion was the reason he endorsed George W. Bush.
Pavone has made statements comparing supporting the legality of abortion to supporting terrorism. Pavone said, “abortion is no less violent than terrorism.”
When 2008 presidential candidate John McCain chose Sarah Palin as his running mate, Pavone said he believed Palin was a better Catholic than Democratic vice presidential candidate Joe Biden. It was due to her opposition to abortion. This was despite the fact that Mrs. Palin is a Protestant in the Assemblies of God church.
Finances and Altars
His Priests for Life organization had controversies over finances. But he never took a dime for himself. The organization spent about 64% on programs, and 37% on salaries. Only one person had a salary over $100,000.
It was eventually declared a secular organization. Cardinal Timothy Dolan threw up his hands in trying to fix their finances.
On November 7, 2016, Pavone was a member of Donald Trump’s 33-member Catholic advisory council. He presented a live video in which he appeared with what he claimed was the body of an unclothed aborted fetus and placed it on a table. Pavone preached for about 45 minutes on abortion and urged his supporters to vote for Trump. While Pavone garnered support from some quarters, negative reactions were widespread, and many observers believed that the table was a consecrated church altar.
It was a tempest in a teapot. The “altar” was an ordinary table.
“G-d Damn”
Mr. Pavone clashed publicly with the bishop of the Diocese of Amarillo, Patrick Zurek, several times over the years. In the fall of 2020, the diocese issued a statement saying Catholics should disregard Mr. Pavone’s rhetoric about the election, including comments online about withholding the absolution of sin from Catholics who voted Democratic.
“I’ve been persecuted in the church for decades, decades. This is nothing new for me,” he said. “They just don’t like the work I’m doing for these babies.”
He seemed to refer to a comment on Twitter from 2020 in which he referred to “supporters of this goddamn loser Biden and his morally corrupt, America-hating, God-hating Democrat party.”
“I used the word G-D in a response to somebody in a tweet, and for that, they want to throw me out of the priesthood,” he said.
The letter about his removal makes no specific reference to this incident or to abortion beyond his affiliation.
Praying for the President w/ Father Frank Pavone and the RSBN Team 1/12/21 https://t.co/oeGtFIKQiB
— RSBN 🇺🇸 (@RSBNetwork) January 13, 2021
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