Posted on 02/11/2026 10:07:27 AM PST by ebb tide
The Lepanto Institute has formally requested that Pope Leo laicize and suspend from ministry a New Mexico priest who entered into a homosexual “domestic partnership” for 10 years during a 28-year leave of absence from the priesthood.
Lepanto sent a copy of its August 2025 report on Fr. Steve Rosera, of the Archdiocese of Santa Fe, New Mexico, along with the notarized “divorce” documents of Rosera and his “partner,” issued by the Superior Court of California for the County of San Francisco, to the papal nuncio to the United States, His Eminence, Christophe Cardinal Pierre. This followed a recent in-person conversation with the nuncio in which Lepanto brought the scandal to his attention in Washington, D.C.
Lepanto requested of the nuncio that the report and court documents be delivered in person, via the apostolic pouch, to Pope Leo XIV, with the request that the Holy Father impose the canonical penalties incurred by a priest for grave violations of the vow of celibacy: suspension from ministry and laicization.
The request comes after more than six months of inaction on the part of Rosera’s immediate superior, Archbishop John Wester, following Lepanto’s exposure of the scandal through the publication of the court’s divorce documents. In fact, at the end of September of last year, the Archdiocese of Santa Fe held a convocation of priests, and in the presence of 80 priests, a brave priest stood up and challenged Abp. John Wester about our story on Fr. Steve Rosera. A priest who was there sent us the following statement:
“Last night, Fr. X called out the bishop on the Steven Rosera scandal. The bishop snapped at Fr. X and said that ‘these negative reports are untrue and hurtful, and anyone who reads this stuff and believes it is full of crap.’”
As noted in its original report and in the letter to the nuncio, not only has Archbishop Wester not imposed any canonical sanction upon Rosera, despite the public report documenting the priest’s homosexual “domestic partnership,” but he has promoted Rosera to several influential positions of authority within the Archdiocese of Santa Fe, including pastor of parish and grade school and judge on the marriage tribunal.
As Lepanto reported to the nuncio,
Clergy and faithful of the archdiocese have affirmed to the Lepanto Institute that Fr. Rosera’s former homosexual relationship is widely known within the archdiocese, and Fr. Rosera has continued to promote homosexuality since being reinstated to active ministry, as I have documented and reported.
Of particular note, Lepanto pointed out that parents of grade-school-age children are concerned for the welfare and safety of their children, with an openly pro-homosexual priest serving as pastor of a Catholic school.
Catholic parents have expressed grave concern for the education and safety of their children, given Fr. Rosera’s role as pastor of an archdiocesan school and his clear dissent from Catholic teaching on the sin of sodomy and his promotion of LGBT ideology.
It is hoped that Pope Leo XIV will hear these concerns of the faithful and clergy of Santa Fe and confirm by canonical penalty that living in a homosexual domestic partnership is incompatible with the priesthood.
Below is the full text of Lepanto’s letter to the apostolic nuncio:
My name is Louis Knuffke. I am a researcher and journalist with the Lepanto Institute. I am writing to Your Eminence regarding Fr. Steve Rosera, of the Archdiocese of Santa Fe, who entered into a homosexual “domestic partnership” with a gay man in San Francisco for 10 years during a 28-year leave of absence from public priestly ministry.
Within the last several years, Fr. Rosera has been reinstated into active ministry. Fr. Rosera’s Ordinary, Archbishop John Wester, knows of Fr. Rosera’s former homosexual relationship, and has not only taken no canonical action, but has promoted him to positions of prominence and authority within the Archdiocese of Santa Fe. Archbishop Wester has appointed him pastor of a parish with a grade school, dean of a deanery of priests, and, most scandalously, judge on the archdiocesan marriage tribunal.
Clergy and faithful of the archdiocese have affirmed to the Lepanto Institute that Fr. Rosera’s former homosexual relationship is widely known within the archdiocese, and Fr. Rosera has continued to promote homosexuality since being reinstated to active ministry, as I have documented and reported.
Catholic parents have expressed grave concern for the education and safety of their children, given Fr. Rosera’s role as pastor of an archdiocesan school and his clear dissent from Catholic teaching on the sin of sodomy and his promotion of LGBT ideology.
I am the journalist who broke this story last year, and I am sending to your Eminence, with this letter, a hard copy of the notarized divorce document for Fr. Rosera and his homosexual partner, issued by the Superior Court of California for the County of San Francisco. This document was stamped and signed by the Clerk of the Court on July 30, 2025. I would like to request that Your Eminence present this document, through the Apostolic pouch, together with this letter and my report, also included here, to His Holiness, Pope Leo XIV.
In view of the court-notarized evidence of the grave sin and canonical crime of Fr. Rosera’s homosexual domestic partnership—entered into for 10 years after priestly ordination—and in view of Archbishop Wester’s refusal to take any canonical action in the matter, on behalf of the Catholic laity and clergy of the Archdiocese of Santa Fe, who brought the scandal to the attention of the Lepanto Institute, I would like to request of His Holiness, Pope Leo XIV, that the canonical penalties for grave violations of priestly celibacy be imposed on Fr. Rosera, namely, that he be suspended from all priestly ministry and laicized.
An assurance of both receipt of this letter and delivery of the court document, this letter, and the Lepanto report on Fr. Rosera, through the Apostolic pouch, to His Holiness, Pope Leo XIV, is respectfully requested.
Thank you,
Louis Knuffke
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Ping
Oh my. Imagine going to confession to these priests or having them give you the last rights.
Ooh, the Pope can add this guy to his “fun list”.
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