De Omnibus Dubitandum Est.

  Recorded on the 29th December before Pope Benedict XVI died. We discuss the incongruity between the laicisation of pro-life hero Frank Pavone & the cover up of abuse committed by Marko Rupnik. I wrote extensively about Pavone here . Although the problems that led to this sanction are well documented, it is extremely difficult to reconcile the removal of his vocational calling, given he has responded with humility and always sought obedience while maintaining the mission he has been a part of for numerous years, with the leniency given to disgraced Jesuit abuser Rupnik.  I was one of the first to report on the Rupnik scandal for the Catholic Herald (see my article here ). On the 21st December, I was asked to write a summary for Rorate Caeli , which you can read here . Pavone was laicised, according to the letter to US bishops from the Nuncio, for disobedience and blasphemy. What precisely was the blasphemy that Pavone committed and what precisely was his disobedience? As ...

  Over the weekend the story broke that Father Frank Pavone, a well-known pro-life activist, was dismissed from the clerical state for “blasphemous communications on social media” and “persistent disobedience of the lawful instructions of his diocesan bishop,” Pavone is the National Director of Priests for Life (PFL) and serves as the chairman and Pastoral Director of its project Rachel's Vineyard . He also is the President of the National Pro-Life Religious Council , an umbrella group of various anti-abortion Christian denominations, and serves as Pastoral Director of the Silent No More campaign. The news came in a letter to U.S. bishops dated 13th December from Archbishop Christophe Pierre, the apostolic nuncio to the United States. Archbishop Pierre wrote that the prefect of the Dicastery for the Clergy issued the decision on the 9th of November and included the unusual dimension that there was “no possibility of appeal.” It did not, however, provide any examples of the “blasp...