Posted on 12/19/2025 6:37:28 PM PST by ebb tide
Pope Leo’s Nuncio to the United States has refused the request of America’s best-known pro-life priest from offering a funeral Mass for his mother, who died at 91 on December 15.
Cardinal Christophe Pierre replied Thursday to a December 16 request for permission from Frank Pavone, saying “I believe that the limitations imposed by your canonical status, compounded by the complexity of your public profile, make it impossible for the request to be considered.”
Pavone, one of the most well-known pro-life priests around the world, was laicized by personal order of Pope Francis in 2022, in a move widely believed to be punishment for Pavone’s stance on abortion which was so opposite that of Francis, who welcomed abortionists and population controllers into the Vatican.
The previous Nuncio to the United States, Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, denounced Fr. Pavone’s laicization as “unjust and illegitimate punishment” and an attempt “to feed a climate of terror among the clergy so as to constrain them into servile and fearful obedience.”
Despite the startling charges of blasphemy and disobedience which the Vatican leveled against Pavone as the reason for the decision, Vatican Cardinal Gerhard Müller told LifeSiteNews at the time that it was “not justified” and “political.” The former head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith added: “I think there was truly a lot of pressure [from] the Democratic Party.”
Bishop Joseph Strickland, then-ordinary of Tyler, Texas, also condemned Francis’s blasphemy accusation against Pavone by saying on Twitter, “The blasphemy is that this holy priest is canceled while an evil president promotes the denial of truth & the murder of the unborn at every turn, Vatican officials promote immorality & denial of the deposit of faith & priests promote gender confusion devastating lives…evil.”
On Thursday Pavone told LifeSiteNews in response to the denial of his request for his mother’s funeral: “I do not need any lectures about Canon law. I need common sense, compassion, and what Pope Francis called ‘accompaniment,’ which the Vatican seems to love to talk about rather than practice.”
LifeSiteNews traveled to Rome when the laicization order was issued to deliver a petition of over 45,000 signatures to the Vatican Dicastery for Clergy asking Pope Francis to reverse his decision. The petition declared, “This outrageous attack on the pro-life movement by the so-called ‘listening Church’ is a mockery of justice.”
Countless pro-life activists protested. Sister Deidre “Dede” Byrne called Pavone’s laicization a “travesty” and raised concerns about the Vatican’s favorable treatment of heterodox and abusive priests. Byrne pointed to Jesuit priest Fr. Marko Rupnik, who has not been laicized despite being excommunicated and removed from the Jesuits after allegations of sexually abusing religious sisters and absolving one in confession.
The famed Planned Parenthood director-turned pro-life activist Abby Johnson also weighed in.
In comments to LifeSiteNews, many pro-life leaders expressed profound disbelief that Pavone, arguably the most outspoken Catholic cleric in defense of the unborn, would be subjected to censure from the Vatican.
Reggie Littlejohn, president of pro-life organization Women’s Rights Without Frontiers, stated that Pavone “is a beloved, generous priest, intensely committed to the Catholic faith and the protection of the unborn.”
“He is one of the finest fruits of the Catholic Church and deserves its support in defending a key teaching about the sanctity of life,” Littlejohn said, adding that “it is a travesty that the Vatican has issued a decision dismissing him from the priesthood.”
“He has had no chance to defend himself, yet the letter states there is ‘no possibility of appeal.’ His summary dismissal without the chance even to know that he was being considered for laicization is an indefensible injustice perpetrated against one of the most magnificent priests of our time. Those who love Fr. Pavone should pray for him – and for the souls of those responsible for this grotesque malfeasance.”
Former Planned Parenthood director-turned pro-life advocate Abby Johnson, who was mentored by Pavone during her conversion to Catholicism, was incredulous at the decision, comparing Pavone’s treatment to that of dissenting priest James Martin, SJ who, she said, “continues to move up the Vatican chain of command.”
Media personalities were less polite in their characterizations of the situation. Newsmax host Greg Kelly posted on Twitter at the time: “What the hell is going on??? Father Frank PAVONE is a HERO. How many priests who MOLESTED CHILDREN have been allowed to stay in the priesthood, yet they KICK OUT Father Frank for making the case Against Abortion. SOMETHING IS VERY WRONG!”
The previous Nuncio to the United States, Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, denounced Fr. Pavone’s laicization as “unjust and illegitimate punishment” and an attempt “to feed a climate of terror among the clergy so as to constrain them into servile and fearful obedience.”
Ping
Pope impersonator Bobby Prevost is an a-hole.
I understand that there is a difference. There is the Church, and then there are the disgusting leaders of the Church.
But perhaps it doesn’t matter. After all, the average parishioner can do little to influence the of direction the Vatican.
I did not know this about Father Pavone. I find outrageous.
Pavone was disobedient to two US bishops asking gor financial transparency. Priests must be obedient, trusting in God to provide....like Padre Pio. He would not let God rescue him, and so God did not.
He did great work, but obedience first...to bishop, to God.
His mother will have a mass for the dead prayed for her and he will be there. He chose his path.
Your comments are ironically at odds with your screen-name.
> He did great work, but obedience first...to bishop, to God. <
In that order?
That's an outright lie. I'm surprised you believe it.
This Christophe Pierre is a sanctimonious jackass. A really nasty piece of work. French of course.
I will stay home and burn copies of s*crosanctum c*ncilium.
Yeah, meanwhile Fr. James Martin and the faggot priests are in “good standing”. Fr. Pavone is a warrior for Christ and the unborn. He should be held up as a hero, not disciplined for “disobedience”.
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