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Outspoken priest Frank Pavone says Catholic bishops are afraid to ‘offend’ powerful Democrats

December 22, 2022 | | Print Article

An outspoken, pro-Trump Catholic priest who was defrocked this week over his social media behavior says that he’s in a battle “for the soul of the Catholic Church” and warns that too much of the church has become obedient to the Democrat Party.

Frank Pavone, who’s now just the head of the Texas-based Priests for Life pro-life ministry, told Fox News in an interview that too many bishops in the church are desperate to not “offend” powerful Democrats, particularly those in Congress.

“They’re Democrat loyalists, a lot of them,” he said.

And so naturally, they don’t appreciate his blunt approach to the pro-life cause.

“Pavone has been in conflict with the bishop of Amarillo, Texas, for over a decade over his pro-life and partisan political activities that came to a head in 2016 when he put an aborted fetus on an altar and posted a video of it on two social media sites,” according to PBS.

“The video was accompanied by a post saying that Hillary Clinton and the Democratic platform would allow abortion to continue and that Trump and the Republican platform wanted to protect unborn children,” PBS reported earlier this week.

He turned out to be correct. After then-GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump won the 2016 presidential election, he went on to install three new Supreme Court justices — all of whom played an instrumental role in overturning Roe v. Wade.

“Pavone remained a firm supporter of Trump and in 2020 disputed the outcome of the election won by Joe Biden. Ahead of the election, the Amarillo diocese denounced Pavone’s use of social media for political ends, distanced the diocese from him and said his positions weren’t consistent with Catholic teaching,” PBS’ reporting continued.

According to Pavone, it was much ado over nothing.

He told Fox News that some members of the church — including the bishop of Amarillo, evidently — “got upset by a comment I made to someone who was arguing with me on Twitter, a Biden supporter.”

“It was in the midst of the nationwide frustration and anger of the 2020 election. I used the word ‘goddamn’ in a tweet, which I shouldn’t have done, and normally never do,” he explained.

He also reportedly called current President Joe Biden a “loser.”

“I did the wrong thing. I went to confession. I shouldn’t have done that, but that’s the world we live in. We get angry,” he said of his trash-talking.

Continuing his remarks to Fox News, he said that his organization, Priests for Life, boasts a lot of low-key support in the Catholic Church.

“We have high-placed cardinals and others at the Vatican who strongly support our work. We’re side by side with the Holy See in doing this pro-life work,” he said, adding that his group “works right at the heart of the church.”

However, like any good guy, Pavone has his fair share of nemeses.

“In the midst of this support, you’ve got a certain segment of bishops who have really been doing everything they can to put obstacles in the way of this work and of my doing this work. The last 20 years [have presented] one battle after another,” he said to Fox News.

But why all the hate?

Pavone believes part of it is a control/power issue.

“They see the influence our ministry has, and they feel they can’t control it,” he explained.

He also thinks they’re “envious” of his fundraising success and “envious of our influence with the Catholic people.”

And of course, he recognizes the political aspect as well.

“Election time rolls around, and they all have their seminars in their dioceses, and they say to the people, ‘OK, here are the Catholic principles of voting. And, we have to look at all the issues. We can’t judge people just on one issue,'” he said.

What one issue? Abortion

“Invariably, Pavone also said, someone holds up a Priests for Life brochure and says, ‘Oh, but Fr. Pavone says that abortion is the primary issue, and we have to elect a pro-life candidate,'” according to Fox News.

“They don’t like that,” Pavone said of his enemies.

“I think the battle is this: Who has the heart and soul of the Catholic pro-life movement?” he added.

Vivek Saxena
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