The Vatican has defrocked prominent Catholic priest and outspoken anti-abortion activist Frank Pavone with no possibility of appeal, documents published Sunday reveal.
“This action was taken after Father Pavone was found guilty in canonical proceedings of blasphemous communications on social media, and of persistent disobedience of the lawful instructions of his diocesan bishop,” a letter from a representative of Pope Francis obtained by the New York Times first reported.
Pavone was a former religious adviser to President Donald Trump and is known for his leadership of a religious organization that strongly opposes abortion, Priests for Life.
Pavone remained a staunch supporter of Trump throughout his presidency. Ahead of the 2020 presidential election, Pavone tweeted: “Why is it that the supporters of this goddamn loser Biden and his morally corrupt, America-hating, God hating Democrat party can’t say a goddamn thing in support of their loser candidate without using the word Trump? What the hell do you have to say for yourselves losers?”
Alongside such public rhetoric, Pavone was also investigated by his diocese of Amarillo, Tex. following a 2016 Facebook live stream in which he reportedly placed an aborted fetus on a church altar in an Election Day appeal for voters to back Donald Trump.
“Here before me lies a baby killed by abortion in the second trimester of pregnancy,” Pavone stated in his video. “But today we are going to pray with this baby and we are going to let this baby’s body bear witness to our nation as we begin the process to elect our next president.”
Since the publicization of Pavone’s dismissal, the priest has been live streaming on YouTube explaining his views on abortion and support of Donald Trump still wearing a priest’s collar.
“I’ve been persecuted in the church for decades, decades. This is nothing new for me. . . . They just don’t like the work I’m doing for these babies,” Pavone stated at one point.
Pavone’s defrocking, officially known as laicization, was issued by the Vatican office of the Dicastery for the Clergy.
Credit: Yahoo News