It struck me as odd the other night when our neighboring priest who was celebrating mass with our priest walked to the lectern and told us that if we criticize a priest we will bring a curse upon ourselves!!! To put it mildly I was shocked and told my husband that I wondered what St. Catherine would say about that.
Admonishing sinners is a spiritual work of mercy and if a priest is sinning then he needs to be admonished.
Yes but rash judgment and calumny are sins. Criticism must be based on accuracy, honesty, fairness, genuine listening to what the person we are criticizing said or did.
I’ll take your Catherine of Siena and raise by a St. Francis. Read what he said about respect for priests.
There’s a place for both. Knowing which is needed when is called wisdom, prudence, discernment. Pope St. Gregory I wrote a book about it. You might want to read it before you do your critiquing. It’s called The Pastoral Rule.