The Vatican deposes anti-abortion priest Frank Pavone | Vatican

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The Vatican has removed anti-abortion US priest Frank Pavone for what he said were “blasphemous communications on social media” as well as “continued disobedience” to his bishop.

A letter to US bishops from the Vatican’s ambassador to the US, Archbishop Christophe Pierre, said that the decision against Pavone, who heads the anti-abortion priests-for-life group, had been taken and that there was no chance of appeal.

Pavone was investigated by his then-diocese of Amarillo, Texas, for placing an aborted fetus on an altar and posted a video of it to two social media sites in 2016. The video was accompanied by a post saying that Hillary Clinton and the Democratic Party would allow abortion to continue, and that Donald Trump and the Republicans They want to protect unborn children.

Pavone remains a staunch supporter of Trump. He appears in his Twitter handle wearing a Maga hat with a background image showing the former US president, who many conservatives are praising for his Supreme Court nominees who overturned the landmark decision guaranteeing a constitutional right to abortion in the US.

Pavone was defiant in a tweet on Sunday, comparing his fate to that of unborn children. “So in every profession, including the priesthood, if you stand up for the unborn, you will be treated like them! The only difference is that when we are ‘aborted’ we continue to speak loud and clear.”

The measure was immediately denounced by his supporters, including the Bishop of Tyler, Texas, Joseph Strickland, who referred to Joe Biden’s support for abortion rights as “vicious.”

Pavone appealed to the Vatican about the restrictions that the Bishop of Amarillo in 2011 imposed on his ministry, successfully easing the restrictions and moving him away from Texas while remaining active with Priests for Life.

In his letter, Pierre cited information from the Congregation of the Clergy that Pavon had been convicted in a legal proceeding of “blasphemous communications on social media and continued disobedience to the legal instructions of his diocesan bishop”. The message was first reported by the Catholic News Agency.

The statement said that Pavone had been given ” ample opportunity to defend himself” and also to submit to his bishop.

The statement concluded that since Pastors for Life is not a Catholic organization, it was up to the group to determine whether he could continue in his role as a “lay person”.

Establishment, or reduction to the secular state, is one of the harshest punishments in the Church’s canon law.

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