ALICANTE, Spain (LifeSiteNews) — The Vatican has confirmed the dismissal from the clerical state of a Spanish priest who repeatedly accused Pope Francis of heresy and rejected the legitimacy of his pontificate.
On June 24, the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith confirmed the reduction to the lay state of Father Francisco José Vegara Cerezo, a priest of the diocese of Orihuela-Alicante, in southeastern Spain. The decision follows a disciplinary process that began in 2024, after the priest publicly accused Pope Francis of heresy and maintained that he was not the legitimate pope. The Spanish diocese communicated the decision to local outlet Religión Confidencial.
The controversy first emerged on February 19, 2024, when Vegara published his 20-page Manifiesto para reivindicar la doctrina catòlica (“Manifesto to Reclaim Catholic Doctrine”), alleging that Pope Francis was a heretic.
The central thesis is that Pope Francis held doctrinal errors amounting to heresy. The author examined a series of papal documents which, according to him, undermine essential and Traditional Catholic teachings.
According to Vegara, these errors collectively oppose the objectivity of Catholic morality, promote a “pastoral” relativism, and legitimize practices that Sacred Scripture explicitly condemns. In particular, Vegara highlights heresies in the following documents issued by Pope Francis:
- Evangelii gaudium (2013), claiming that God’s covenant with the Jewish people “has never been revoked,” which Vegara interprets as denying the uniqueness and definitiveness of the New Covenant in Christ.
- Amoris Laetitia (2016), allowing for the possibility that divorced-and-“remarried” persons may not be in a state of mortal sin; undermining the objectivity of moral norms; suggesting that adultery may not constitute grave matter in all cases.
- “Basic Criteria for the Application of Chapter VIII of Amoris Laetitia,” formulated by the bishops of Buenos Aires (2016) and later approved by Pope Francis, permitting access to the Eucharist for divorced-and-“remarried” couples without a commitment to continence; contradicting the doctrine on marriage, penance, and the Eucharist. Vegara stresses that Francis’s written approval gives these criteria magisterial weight, thus formalizing the error.
- Abu Dhabi Document on Human Fraternity for World Peace and Living Together (2019), stating that the “diversity of religions” is “willed by God,” which Vegara says denies the uniqueness of Christ and the divine origin of the Catholic Church.
- Desiderio desideravi (2022), teaching that “faith” alone is the “wedding garment” required for Eucharistic participation, which Vegara sees as a Protestant doctrine that ignores the need for the state of grace.
- Francis’ answers to Dubia (2023), equating or analogizing marriage with other forms of union; separating “pastoral charity” from doctrinal truth; allowing non‑ritualized blessings for couples in irregular or sinful unions; relativizing subjective culpability; weakening the doctrine of sacramental confession and repentance.
- “Answers to Several Questions Regarding Participation in the Sacraments of Baptism and Matrimony by Transgender Persons and Homosexual Persons” (2023), permitting baptism of persons in objectively sinful situations without prior conversion; allowing them to serve as godparents or witnesses, which Vegara sees as contradicting canonical and moral requirements.
- Fiducia supplicans (2023), authorizing blessings for same-sex couples and couples in “irregular unions.” Vegara calls this an abominación desoladora (“abomination of desolation”), claiming it contradicts Scripture, Tradition, and the Church’s moral teaching.
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From this, the author concludes that accepting Pope Francis’s magisterium would require rejecting the entire prior magisterium of the Church, since two contradictory doctrines cannot both be true.
He argues that the Church’s identity depends on the continuity of its doctrinal content, and that Francis’s teachings break this continuity in a way unprecedented in Church history. Therefore, he claims, the only way to preserve Catholic doctrine is to reject Francis’s authority.
The manifesto then advances a second thesis: Francis would not have been a valid pope. This claim rests on the argument that Benedict XVI’s resignation was canonically invalid because it did not take effect immediately, as required by canon law.
The author contends that Benedict announced a future resignation but never formally enacted it, rendering the act null. If Benedict remained pope until his death, then the 2013 conclave was invalid, all cardinals created by Francis lack authority, and the Church is currently in a state of sede vacante. He concludes that only a new conclave composed of cardinals appointed before Benedict XVI’s pontificate could validly elect a pope, and that until then the Church must reject Francis’s magisterium to safeguard the integrity of the faith.
The situation prompted intervention by Bishop José Ignacio Munilla of Orihuela-Alicante. As part of an ongoing investigation, Munilla removed the priest from every office and responsibility in the diocese on February 6, 2024. In a diocesan statement issued later that month, the bishop reaffirmed “full communion of faith, charity and obedience” with Pope Francis and explained that repeated efforts had been made to address the matter.
According to the diocesan statement, the bishop and other representatives appointed by him met with Vegara over several months in order to listen to him, “engage in dialogue,” and ultimately issue a written warning because of his continued position against the Francis pontificate.
The statement also noted that “possible personal factors affecting his conduct and the proper exercise of his ministry” had been identified during the process.
Vegara did not retract his claims. According to Religion Confidencial, in January 2025 he submitted a formal document to diocesan authorities accusing Pope Francis of heresy and apostasy.
The diocese of Orihuela-Alicante, however, had already forwarded documentation connected with the case to the Vatican in December 2024. Approximately 18 months later, the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith informed the diocese of its decision to impose the penalty of dismissal from the clerical state.
Vergara is not the first priest to make such accusations against Pope Francis. In Italy alone, there are the cases of Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, Father Fernando Maria Cornet, Father Leonardo Maria Pompei, Father Giorgio Maria Faré, Father Alessandro Maria Minutella, and many others. Although their arguments do not fully converge and their conclusions differ considerably, they all share the conviction that Pope Francis’s magisterium departs from the Church’s two‑millennia‑old deposit of faith.