Father Chris Alar, provincial superior of the Marians of the Immaculate Conception, told Newsmax on Monday that if Father Frank Pavone's dismissal is not appealable, it came from the top at the Vatican.
"The first point that we have to make, as of right now, is that we don't know the specifics," Alar said during an appearance on Newsmax's "National Report." "Several canon lawyers have come out and already said that if this is listed as not appealable that means it comes directly from Pope Francis, which is a concern."
The Catholic News Agency reported over the weekend that Archbishop Christophe Pierre, the apostolic nuncio to the United States, sent a letter to U.S. bishops declaring that Pavone, head of Priests for Life, had officially been laicized.
When asked what being removed as a priest means, Alar said, "We are a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek."
"No matter what happens, we always remain a priest," he said. "However, to be laicized means that you no longer have faculties. You are no longer able to practice, wear clerical garb, you are no longer able to celebrate Mass publicly."
The letter claims that Pavone was guilty of "persistent disobedience of the lawful instructions of his diocesan bishop" and "blasphemous communications on social media."
Alar said he had spoken with Pavone about "an unfortunate encounter on social media."
"The words got a little bit tense and, very unfortunately, Father Frank used some improper language, and he admits to that," said Alar, a personal friend of Pavone.
"Well, the person that this was directed at took it to mean that he was saying that all people who have had abortions will be condemned to hell and, therefore, that's blasphemous.
"If you read the content of the remark, it was crude and it was not proper — but it was not saying that people who have an abortion will go to hell. It's just not saying that."
As the head of Priests for Life, Pavone "ministers to a lot of people who have had abortions to allow them to find God's mercy," Alar said.
Pavone appears determined to fight the matter, performing a Mass streamed online Saturday, and the Priests for Life website referred to him as a "Catholic priest in good standing" who "exercises his ministry in full communion with the Catholic Church."
"I have made an irrevocable commitment to defend the unborn and to be a priest," Pavone said in a press release Monday. "I will not walk away from either one."
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