Showing posts with label 2018. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 2018. Show all posts
Friday, November 23, 2018
Tijuana Mayor Declares 'Humanitarian Crisis' Over Migrants
Last Updated: November 23, 2018 1:26 PM
Associated Press
Maria del Carmen Mejia holds her daughter Britany Sofia while standing a line outside a migrant shelter in Tijuana, Mexico, Thursday, Nov. 22, 2018.
TIJUANA, MEXICO —
The mayor of Tijuana has declared a humanitarian crisis in his border city and said Friday that he has asked the United Nations for aid to deal with the approximately 5,000 Central American migrants who have arrived.
Mayor Juan Manuel Gastelum said that the Mexican federal government has provided little assistance and he is not going to commit the city’s public resources to dealing with the situation. He said 4,976 migrants had come to the city.
Migrants listen to Mexican authorities as they join a small group of migrants trying to cross the border at the Chaparral crossing in Tijuana, Mexico, Thursday, Nov. 22, 2018.
“We don’t have sufficient and necessary infrastructure to adequately attend to these people, to give them a decent space,” he said on Grupo Formula radio.
On Thursday, his government issued a statement saying that it was requesting help from the U.N.’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
“I am not going to spend the money of Tijuana (citizens),” Gasteulum said in the statement.
For the most part, the migrant caravan that left Honduras in mid-October was well received by the towns it passed through along the way to the border. Even cities with few resources made sure the migrants had food and a place to rest.
But in those places, the caravan stayed at most two nights — with the exception of Mexico City. In Tijuana, many of the migrants who are fleeing violence and poverty want to request asylum in the United States and face the prospect of spending months in the border city before they have the opportunity to speak with a U.S. official.
Why and how are asylum seekers entering the U.S.?
| Matamoros, Mexico
Many immigrants entering the U.S. — legally and illegally — claim asylum. Advocates for greater limits on immigration, particularly “chain migration” based on family relationships rather than employment skills, have tried to restrict asylum seekers.
This month, President Trump issued a proclamation preventing immigrants from claiming asylum if they crossed the border illegally. On Monday, a federal judge in San Francisco blocked that “asylum ban.”
But the judge’s ruling did not address another U.S. policy that’s forcing asylum seekers to wait on the Mexican side of border bridges, adding their names to growing waiting lists maintained by Mexican officials. On Thursday, a small group of Central American migrants marched peacefully to a border crossing in Tijuana to demand better conditions and push to enter the U.S. We talked to migrants waiting to cross the border legally at a shelter and border bridge in Matamoros, Mexico, and those who had crossed illegally and were released by U.S. immigration officials in neighboring Brownsville, Texas, last week — with notices to appear in immigration court — about why and how they were seeking asylum.
Why cross legally at a border bridge or illegally via the Rio Grande?
Most asylum seekers at the Matamoros bridge said they understood that by law, it was legal to enter the U.S. via the bridge. Some were aware of Trump’s edict and feared that if they crossed the Rio Grande illegally, they could hurt their chances of being granted asylum. But with the Mexican list having grown last week to 80 names, they also worried about how long they would have to wait to cross. Some had already waited more than a month. Many of the migrants had been granted temporary visas in Mexico that had expired or were due to expire by month’s end, and they worried they could be deported.
“I came here because I thought it would be faster,” said Cuban asylum seeker Ronald Padron, 37, who had waited 26 days at the Matamoros bridge.
The Pennsylvania report on clergy sex abuse spawned a wave of probes nationwide. Now what?
Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan is among 14 state attorneys general, plus the District of Columbia, investigating the Catholic Church in the wake of an explosive August report on sexual abuse by Catholic priests in Pennsylvania. (Ashlee Rezin/Chicago Sun-Times/AP)
By
Michelle BoorsteinJulie Zauzmer
November 22 at 4:28 PM
The explosive report about sexual abuse by Catholic priests unveiled by a Pennsylvania grand jury in August has set off an unprecedented wave of investigations over the last several months, with attorneys general in 14 states and the District of Columbia announcing probes and demanding documents from Catholic officials. Those efforts have been joined by a federal investigation out of Philadelphia that may become national in scope.
The swift and sweeping response by civil authorities contrasts sharply with the Vatican’s comparatively glacial pace. While some U.S. dioceses have published lists of priests they say have been credibly accused of sexual abuse and two cardinals have been ousted, the Vatican this month put on hold a vote by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops on measures to hold bishops more accountable until after a global synod in early 2019. In the meantime, Rome has done little to address the crisis.
“The Catholic Church has proven that it cannot police itself,” said Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan (D), whose state is among those investigating. “And civil authorities can’t let the church hide child sexual abuse allegations as personnel matters. They’re crimes. We need a full accounting of the church.”
The new investigations are taking place in a very different climate than existed in 2002, when the Boston Globe exposed decades of abuse and coverups in that city. Many lay Catholics have lost faith in the church’s ability to right itself and are pushing for civil authorities to hold high-ranking church officials accountable. There’s also a greater willingness by law enforcement to do battle with a church that has become a far less formidable local presence. And the graphic grand jury report has spurred widespread public outrage.
However, hope for action won’t be satisfied quickly. Following an initial flurry of news conferences and calls to hotlines set up for the public to report abuse, there is likely to be an extended period of silence while prosecutors gather evidence.
State and federal prosecutors have three tools at their disposal: criminal charges against allegedly guilty priests or even the bishops believed to have abetted their abuse, civil suits against individuals or larger church entities, and public reports that expose the names and deeds of accused abusers without formal action.
Close
'It doesn’t ever go away’: Victims recount sexual abuse by priests
Three survivors recounted sexual abuse by Catholic priests in a video released by the Pennsylvania Attorney General on Aug. 14. (Pennsylvania Attorney General/Reuters)
As authorities launch their investigations, often involving episodes that are decades old, they make no promises about where their probes will ultimately lead.
Thursday, November 22, 2018
Tuesday, November 20, 2018
Citing ‘current crisis in the Church,’ major Catholic association won’t collect annual Vatican tithe
St. Peters and the Vatican Shutterstock
Lisa Bourne
Tue Nov 20, 2018 - 10:35 am EST
catholic, homosexuality, legatus, papal foundation, pope francis, sex abuse crisis in catholic church, theodore mccarrick, tom monaghan, vatican cover-up
ANN ARBOR, Michigan, November 20, 2018 (LifeSiteNews) – A prestigious Catholic business association will not collect an annual tithe from its members for a 2019 contribution to the Holy See.
Legatus, a U.S.-based organization of Catholic business leaders, announced September 6 it would place the Holy See annual tithe in escrow following discussions of its Board of Governors, “specifically pertaining to how [the tithe] is being used, and what financial accountability exists within the Vatican for such charitable contributions.”
Legatus Chairman and CEO Thomas Monaghan wrote to members November 16 exhorting them to continue to pray “for the Church and all of our leaders,” since “it is evident that it is going to take time for the current crisis in the Church to be addressed to the point where the Board believes the reinstatement of our annual tithe would be prudent.”
Because of this, Monaghan said, the group’s Board of Governors decided “to forego collecting the annual tithe represented in your 2019 dues.”
Members who already submitted their dues will have them refunded in timely fashion, he advised, and those who have not yet sent in their dues would be issued new invoices.
The annual tithe to the Holy See has been an important part of Legatus membership since its founding, Monaghan said, and “Thus, it is the intent of the Board to reinstate this practice once we have sufficient communication regarding the specific accountability related to the use of these funds.”
“The Board will revisit this topic by the fall of 2019 in order to chart a plan related to the 2020 dues,” he added.
“The Church is most certainly in crisis, but it is not a crisis of Faith,” Monaghan said, quoting an August 30 Wall Street Journal column from George Weigel.
“Legatus continues to pledge its devotion to and solidarity with Holy Mother Church,” he said. “This is a time when we need to live the mission of Legatus more than ever.”
In conclusion, he asked members to “continue to pray for healing and courage for the Church.”
The Legatus tithe amount withheld from the Holy See is $820,000, a Legatus spokesperson told LifeSiteNews. The association has donated $18 million to the Holy See in the 31 years it has been existence, the spokesperson said.
Legatus members must be practicing Catholics and owners, chairmen, presidents or CEOs of a business with a minimum of $7 million annual revenue and at least 49 employees, or, for a financial service company, with at least 10 employees and $275 million in assets under management. The organization was founded in 1987 and has 3,000 current members.
Vatican financial accountability came into question earlier this year pertaining to the Papal Foundation, a U.S.-based organization of lay donors that provides grants to support organizations in the developing world on behalf of the Holy Father.
The grants are usually $200,000 or less. This past February, some Papal Foundation members raised concern over a Holy See request for $25 million for a Church-owned hospital plagued with corruption and financial scandal for years.
A number of Foundation members, Lay Stewards who pledge “to give $1 million over the course of no more than ten years with a minimum donation of $100,000 per year,” resigned over the matter. Questions remain about the grant’s status and handling.
U.S. bishops, including every U.S. cardinal living in America, comprise most of the Foundation board.
Archbishop Theodore McCarrick, one of three prelates who established the Papal Foundation under Pope John Paul II in 1988, was de facto removed from the board upon resigning from the College of Cardinals earlier this year following charges he abused a minor.
Source
Monday, November 19, 2018
A Church Remembers Avicii, With Hits Instead of Hymns
A crowd waiting outside the Hedvig Eleonora Church in Stockholm on Friday for a religious service remembering the musician Avicii.CreditCreditErika Gerdemark for The New York Times
By Lisa Abend
Nov. 19, 2018
STOCKHOLM — Olle Liljefors stood in a makeshift D.J. booth on Friday evening, spinning tracks by the Swedish musician Avicii, who died suddenly in April. It was not yet 8 p.m., but the cavernous venue was already at capacity, and Liljefors looked slightly nervous.
Stepping away from the decks, he swapped his black leather motorcycle jacket for white robes and a gold-color stole. Then, with minutes until Mass began, the Lutheran pastor mixed one last song and bopped his head in time to the electronic beats that filled the grand dome of the Hedvig Eleonora Church, a striking ocher octagon in Stockholm wedged between chic restaurants and a busy shopping street.
Ulf Norberg, left, and the choir during the Mass on Friday.CreditErika Gerdemark for The New York Times
The service that followed was intended in part as a memorial to Avicii, whose real name was Tim Bergling, who died in Muscat, Oman, in an apparent suicide. But by replacing the normal hymns with Avicii’s music, the religious ceremony was also part of a continuing effort by Liljefors and other clergy to draw younger members to the dwindling ranks of the Lutheran Church of Sweden.
Photographs of the musician, who grew up in Stockholm in the parish that the Hedvig Eleonora Church serves, were on the altar. Bergling’s father gave a short speech that brought many in the pews to tears. Liljefors delivered the sermon, which drew on lyrics from Avicii’s songs. “When we sit at home ‘waiting for love,’ or when we are happy and want to dance, or when we feel lost, like ‘wake me up when it’s all over,’ music can bring love, hope, comfort and joy,” he said.
Sunday, November 18, 2018
Number of Witches in U.S. on the Rise, May Surpass 1.5 Million
By Michael W. Chapman | November 16, 2018 | 5:59 PM EST
A report in the Christian Postcontends that the number of witches (and Wiccans) has dramatically increased since the 1990s, to the degree that there may be at least 1.5 million witches in the United States, which is higher than the 1.4 million mainline Presbyterians.
"[T]he practice of witchcraft has grown significantly in recent decades; those who identify as witches has risen concurrently with the rise of the 'witch aesthetic,'" reported the Christian Post in October, citing data from Quartz, a Trinity College study, and the Pew Research Center.
Between 1990 and 2008, the number of Wiccans in the United States grew from 8,000 to 340,000, according to three religious surveys conducted by Trinity College in Connecticut. In addition, the Pew Research Center reported in 2014 that 0.4% of the population -- 1 to 1.5 million Americans -- "identify as Wicca or Pagan."
"It makes sense that witchcraft and the occult would rise as society becomes increasingly postmodern," author Julie Roys, formerly of Moody Radio, told the Christian Post. "The rejection of Christianity has left a void that people, as inherently spiritual beings, will seek to fill."
Roys added that witchcraft is especially attractive to Millenials because it has been "effectively repackaged."
"No longer is witchcraft and paganism satanic and demonic," said Roys. "[I]t's a 'pre-Christian tradition' that promotes 'free thought' and 'understanding of earth and nature.'"
A report in the Christian Postcontends that the number of witches (and Wiccans) has dramatically increased since the 1990s, to the degree that there may be at least 1.5 million witches in the United States, which is higher than the 1.4 million mainline Presbyterians.
"[T]he practice of witchcraft has grown significantly in recent decades; those who identify as witches has risen concurrently with the rise of the 'witch aesthetic,'" reported the Christian Post in October, citing data from Quartz, a Trinity College study, and the Pew Research Center.
Between 1990 and 2008, the number of Wiccans in the United States grew from 8,000 to 340,000, according to three religious surveys conducted by Trinity College in Connecticut. In addition, the Pew Research Center reported in 2014 that 0.4% of the population -- 1 to 1.5 million Americans -- "identify as Wicca or Pagan."
"It makes sense that witchcraft and the occult would rise as society becomes increasingly postmodern," author Julie Roys, formerly of Moody Radio, told the Christian Post. "The rejection of Christianity has left a void that people, as inherently spiritual beings, will seek to fill."
Roys added that witchcraft is especially attractive to Millenials because it has been "effectively repackaged."
"No longer is witchcraft and paganism satanic and demonic," said Roys. "[I]t's a 'pre-Christian tradition' that promotes 'free thought' and 'understanding of earth and nature.'"
Pope decries that 'wealthy few' feast on what belongs to all
By The Associated Press
VATICAN CITY — Nov 18, 2018, 8:55 AM ET
The Associated Press
Championing the cause of the poor, Pope Francis on Sunday lamented that "the wealthy few" enjoy what, "in justice, belongs to all" and said Christians cannot remain indifferent to the growing cries of the exploited and the indigent, including migrants.
Francis invited about 6,000 poor people as well as some of the volunteers who help them to the splendor of St. Peter's Basilica where he celebrated Mass on a day the Catholic Church dedicates to the needy. Later, he sat down with 1,500 of the indigent for a lunch of lasagna, chicken, mashed potatoes and tiramisu in a Vatican auditorium.
In his homily, Francis said "we Christians cannot stand with arms folded in indifference or with arms outstretched in helplessness" about those in need. He cited the "stifled cry" of the unborn, of starving children, "of young people more used to the explosion of bombs than happy shouts at the playground."
He also drew attention to the plight of abandoned elderly, the friendless and "the cry of all those forced to flee their homes and native land for an uncertain future. It is the cry of entire peoples, deprived even of the great natural resources at their disposal."
Francis said the poor were weeping "while the wealthy few feast on what, in justice, belongs to all. Injustice is the perverse root of poverty."
"The cry of the poor daily becomes stronger but every day heard less," he said. That cry is "drowned out by the din on the rich few, who grow ever fewer and more rich," the pontiff said.
Last week, doctors, nurses and other healthworkers volunteered their time to offer medical assistance to the homeless and other need from morning till night in St. Peter's Square. The initiative reflects the Francis' determination that the Vatican promote by way of example priorities for rank-and-file faithful.
Francis said during Mass Sunday that "it is important for all of us to live our faith in contact with those in need."
Later, in remarks to pilgrims and tourists in St. Peter's Square, Francis spoke of the futility of making riches one's goal. He noted that with at the end of each life "the power of money and of economic means with which we presume with presumptuousness to buy everything and everyone won't be able to be used anymore."
Championing the cause of the poor, Pope Francis on Sunday lamented that "the wealthy few" enjoy what, "in justice, belongs to all" and said Christians cannot remain indifferent to the growing cries of the exploited and the indigent, including migrants.
Francis invited about 6,000 poor people as well as some of the volunteers who help them to the splendor of St. Peter's Basilica where he celebrated Mass on a day the Catholic Church dedicates to the needy. Later, he sat down with 1,500 of the indigent for a lunch of lasagna, chicken, mashed potatoes and tiramisu in a Vatican auditorium.
In his homily, Francis said "we Christians cannot stand with arms folded in indifference or with arms outstretched in helplessness" about those in need. He cited the "stifled cry" of the unborn, of starving children, "of young people more used to the explosion of bombs than happy shouts at the playground."
He also drew attention to the plight of abandoned elderly, the friendless and "the cry of all those forced to flee their homes and native land for an uncertain future. It is the cry of entire peoples, deprived even of the great natural resources at their disposal."
Francis said the poor were weeping "while the wealthy few feast on what, in justice, belongs to all. Injustice is the perverse root of poverty."
"The cry of the poor daily becomes stronger but every day heard less," he said. That cry is "drowned out by the din on the rich few, who grow ever fewer and more rich," the pontiff said.
Last week, doctors, nurses and other healthworkers volunteered their time to offer medical assistance to the homeless and other need from morning till night in St. Peter's Square. The initiative reflects the Francis' determination that the Vatican promote by way of example priorities for rank-and-file faithful.
Francis said during Mass Sunday that "it is important for all of us to live our faith in contact with those in need."
Later, in remarks to pilgrims and tourists in St. Peter's Square, Francis spoke of the futility of making riches one's goal. He noted that with at the end of each life "the power of money and of economic means with which we presume with presumptuousness to buy everything and everyone won't be able to be used anymore."
The Obamas are ‘Becoming’ a billion-dollar brand
By Isabel Vincent
November 17, 2018 | 4:07pm
Michelle and Barack Obama
Getty Images
The Obamas are “Becoming” — billionaires.
SEE ALSO
The Obamas are “Becoming” — billionaires.
SEE ALSO
The Barack Obama Foundation has seen its contributions soar
The launch of Michelle Obama’s cross-country book tour for her new memoir, “Becoming,” last week is just the latest marker on the road to fabulous wealth for the former first couple, who are on their way to becoming a billion-dollar brand.
In addition to a $65 million book advance and an estimated $50 million deal with Netflix, both of which she shares with husband Barack Obama, the former first lady is poised to rake in millions from appearances on her 10-city US tour and sales of merchandise connected to her autobiography.
And like her husband, Michelle Obama is currently in demand as a speaker for corporations and non-profits, commanding $225,000 per appearance, The Post has learned.
Forbes estimated the couple made $20.5 million in salaries and book royalties between 2005 — when Obama became a federal senator and they first arrived in Washington — and 2016. They are now worth more than $135 million.
And that figure does not include the cash they are raking in for public speaking.
In October 2017, Michelle Obama was a keynote speaker at the Pennsylvania Conference for Women, a non-profit that promotes education and networking.
Obama did an on-stage interview with Hollywood producer and writer Shonda Rhimes in Philadelphia for an audience of 12,000.
Pope says world mustn't turn a blind eye to migrants, the poor
SUN NOV 18, 2018 / 6:40 AM EST
Pope Francis celebrates the Mass marking the Roman Catholic Church's World Day of the Poor, at Saint Peter's Basilica at the Vatican November 18, 2018.
REUTERS/REMO CASILLI
(Reuters) - Pope Francis criticized rising wealth inequality and the treatment of migrants on Sunday, saying the world should not ignore those "tossed by the waves of life".
"Injustice is the perverse root of poverty," Francis said at a Mass marking the Roman Catholic Church's annual World Day of the Poor. "The cry of the poor daily becomes stronger but heard less, drowned out by the din of the rich few, who grow ever fewer and more rich."
Francis also reiterated his support for migrants saying that people must pay attention to "all those forced to flee their homes and native land for an uncertain future".
His remarks came as hundreds of migrants from a caravan of Central Americans were stalled at the U.S.-Mexico border after being denied entry to the United States, although Francis made no direct reference to the situation in the United States.
A report this year by Oxfam said 3.7 billion people, or half of the global population, saw no increase in their wealth in 2017, while 82 percent of the wealth generated last year went to the richest one percent of the global population.
(Reporting by Giselda Vagnoni; Editing by Susan Fenton)
----------------------
P.S.
It's ludicrous for the Bishop of Rome to talk about "a blind eye" regarding the poor while my eyes see a golden chalice in his hands and two other golden artifacts in the picture above. Simply a hyprocritical dichotomy!
Saturday, November 17, 2018
Birmingham archbishop apologises for Church’s response to abuse survivors
Simon Caldwell 17 November, 2018
Archbishop Bernard Longley (Mazur/catholicchurch.org.uk)
Archbishop Longley gives evidence at British government-backed inquiry
A Catholic archbishop has apologised to the victims of child abuse during a government-backed inquiry that shed light on allegations against priests over half a century.
Some of the allegations were made against Fr John Tolkien, the son of JRR Tolkien, the best-selling author of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings trilogy.
Archbishop Bernard Longley of Birmingham, England, acknowledged failures of the church to protect children in his testimony on November 16 to the Independent Inquiry into Child Sex Abuse (IICSA) in London. He assured the inquiry of his commitment to the protection of children and vulnerable adults.
The inquiry is investigating child abuse throughout various United Kingdom institutions and heard evidence of abuse in the Birmingham Archdiocese during a five-day hearing on November 12-16.
“I am deeply sorry. I apologise. I apologise to those survivors and those victims of abuse for what they have suffered with the archdiocese over the years,” the archbishop said.
“I apologise to them and I would certainly wish to seek some way of lifting the burden. I know that apologies feel that they come too late and are inadequate and I accept that,” he continued.
“I believe that being here this week has been revealed some serious mistakes and I wish to learn from them,” Archbishop Longley added. “I can only say that I hope it’s not too late. I represent a Church whose message is that it’s never too late but that’s not for me to say in relation to victims and survivors of abuse.”
Archbishop Longley was questioned for hours about the church’s child protection procedures and about his own attitude toward child protection, and answered that he has met victims of abuse of numerous occasions.
The archdiocese is one of the worst afflicted by clerical abuse in England and Wales and was nominated in 2016 as a case study to represent the church nationally.
Cardinal Vincent Nichols of Westminster, president of the Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales and archbishop of Birmingham from 2000 to 2009, was expected to face the inquiry but fell ill during a memorial service for war dead on November 11 and was unable to attend.
He was expected to answer questions about the way the archdiocese had handled abuse allegations by several priests, including Fr Tolkien, who died in 2003.
Fr Tolkien was alleged to have ordered Boy Scouts to strip while working in a Birmingham parish in the 1950s.
Jesuit priest who led teacher training center killed in South Sudan
Catholic News Service
Nov 16, 2018 CONTRIBUTOR
Father Victor Luke Odhiambo, 62, a Jesuit priest from Kenya, was killed Nov. 14 when armed men stormed a church compound where he lived in central South Sudan, said John Madol, Gok state information minister. The priest had been the director of a Catholic Church-run training center for teachers. (Credit: CNS photo/courtesy East Africa Province.)
NAIROBI, Kenya - A Jesuit priest from Kenya was reported killed in central South Sudan, according to local media.
Father Victor Luke Odhiambo, 62, died Nov. 14 when armed men stormed a church compound where he lived, said John Madol, Gok state information minister.
The priest had been the director of a Catholic Church-run training center for teachers.
Madol told Radio Tamazuj that a motive for the killing remained unclear.
“One person has been arrested and in custody. He will tell us who the other people involved,” he said.
In response, the Gok state officials declared three days of mourning in memory of Father Odhiambo.
About 37 percent of the South Sudan population is Catholic while most people are Christian.
The priest’s body was transferred to the Diocese of Rumbek for repatriation to Kenya.
The death was the second of a Kenyan clergyman ministering in South Sudan in the past two years. In June 2017, a Protestant minister was murdered in the capital of Juba by a young man who accused him of preaching too loudly during morning prayers.
Friday, November 16, 2018
Priest who called Pope Francis an ‘antipope’ excommunicated
By Associated Press
November 15, 2018 | 2:01am
Pope Francis
Getty Images
ROME — An Italian Catholic priest who considers Pope Francis an antipope and claims to have supernatural communications with angels, saints and the Madonna has been excommunicated.
The archdiocese of Monreale, Sicily said the Rev. Alessandro Minutella was informed Tuesday of his excommunication for spreading “heresy and schism.”
Monreale Archbishop Michele Pennisi issued a public notice in 2015 warning the faithful that they risked “grave danger to their souls” by listening to Minutella.
Pennisi said the priest was suspected of manipulating parishioners with his prophesies and “seriously posed a risk to the genuine popular devotion to the Madonna, angels and saints.”
Minutella has described his preaching as the “true” Catholic doctrine and anyone who followed Francis as a heretic. The priest especially cited the pope’s opening to letting divorced and civilly remarried Catholics receive Communion.
ROME — An Italian Catholic priest who considers Pope Francis an antipope and claims to have supernatural communications with angels, saints and the Madonna has been excommunicated.
The archdiocese of Monreale, Sicily said the Rev. Alessandro Minutella was informed Tuesday of his excommunication for spreading “heresy and schism.”
Monreale Archbishop Michele Pennisi issued a public notice in 2015 warning the faithful that they risked “grave danger to their souls” by listening to Minutella.
Pennisi said the priest was suspected of manipulating parishioners with his prophesies and “seriously posed a risk to the genuine popular devotion to the Madonna, angels and saints.”
Minutella has described his preaching as the “true” Catholic doctrine and anyone who followed Francis as a heretic. The priest especially cited the pope’s opening to letting divorced and civilly remarried Catholics receive Communion.
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