(LifeSiteNews) – LifeSiteNews has launched a petition calling on readers to support a Catholic priest after he was sanctioned by the Vatican for calling out Pope Francis and criticizing the Pope’s promulgation of “heresies.”
Fr. Jesusmary Missigbètò, a priest of Opus Dei, was sanctioned by the Vatican and Pope Francis on July 1, prohibiting him from preaching, hearing confessions and celebrating Mass in public. The decree from Cardinal Marc Ouellet and signed by Pope Francis stated that Fr. Missigbètò lacked “respect and obedience to the Supreme Pontiff” (Code of Canon Law 273).
Sign LifeSite’s petition of support HERE.
After Fr. Missigbètò wrote an open letter to Pope Francis opposing his support for same-sex civil unions, Opus Dei expelled him for not obeying his superior’s directive to stop publicly criticizing the Pope. Fr. Missigbètò had been with Opus Dei for nearly 25 years.
He wrote four letters in total to Pope Francis, criticizing the Pontiff for his support of same-sex civil unions, his exhortation Amoris Laetitia, a decision regarding the morality of permitting hysterectomies, and finally questioning if Francis is actually a Freemason.
After a July 1 meeting with his Opus Dei superiors, Fr. Missigbètò was informed of the Vatican’s sanctions against him and presented with the decree signed by Pope Francis on June 4.
The decree accused Fr. Missigbètò of a “stubborn refusal to obey,” of not practicing the “special obedience and respect toward the Roman Pontiff,” and of “disobedience” toward his superiors.
He has been told to abstain from going to the media and to live a “life of penance and in quiet.” Should Fr. Missigbètò not obey these rules, he might encounter in the future “more serious penalties.”
After this pronouncement, Fr. Missigbètò told LifeSite’s John-Henry Westen that his “motivation is very simple.”
“The Vatican has to speak clearly and follow the traditional path of the Church, not go out,” he said. “Because tradition is the preservation of the truth, and it’s the way we must choose to go to heaven. So this is my motivation: to help Pope Francis understand that it’s better to follow the path of Saint John Paul II and Pope Benedict and all recent popes.”
Responding in writing to his sanctions, Fr. Missigbètò called the decree “unjust,” adding that he could not “in conscience, renounce my public criticism of Pope Francis because, since 2016, you yourself have seriously lacked ‘respect and obedience to God and the People of God’.”
LifeSite’s petition in support of Fr. Missigbètò reads: “Marriage and 2,000 years of traditional Catholic teaching are all under attack – we cannot let the global elites silence another voice for truth, thinking that they can succeed without us noticing!”
“Without your voice added to the chorus of countless others, brave priests like Fr. JesusMary will be singled out and targeted one-by-one until we have no one left to teach genuine Catholic teaching,” the petition adds.
Raise your voice now by signing our brand-new petition defending Fr. JesusMary, the Holy Mass, and Free Speech!
Fr. Jesusmary has shown us the way into a new battle for the Holy Mass and Catholic orthodoxy against a modernist and worldly narrative infecting the Church today – the same narrative that promotes Pachamama, Communist China, and issues a joyless statement after the overturning of Roe v. Wade.
“Alert Pope Francis that Fr. Jesusmary MUST be restored to priestly ministry and freed from encroaching free-speech oppressors,” the petition urges.
The petition of support for Fr. Missigbètò can be found here.
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