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WORLD NEWS Monday 19 deceMber 2022
Anti-abortion priest Pavone defrocked for

blasphemous posts

By NICOLE WINFIELD tions placed on his ministry
Associated Press in 2011 by the Amarillo bish-
VATICAN CITY (AP) — The op, succeeded in getting
Vatican has defrocked an the restrictions eased, and
anti-abortion U.S. priest, relocated away from Texas
Frank Pavone, for what it while remaining active with
said were “blasphemous Priests for Life.
communications on social In his letter, Pierre cited in-
media” as well as “persis- formation from the Con-
tent disobedience” of his gregation for Clergy that
bishop. Pavone had been laicized
A letter to U.S. bishops from — he can no longer pres-
the Vatican ambassador ent himself as a priest — af-
to the U.S., Archbishop ter being found guilty in a
Christophe Pierre, obtained Frank Pavone, head of Priests for Life, gives the Homily during a canonical proceeding “of
Sunday, said the deci- mass at Ave Maria University’s Oratory in Naples, Fla., on March blasphemous communica-
sion against Pavone, who 31, 2009 to recognize the fourth anniversary of Terri Schiavo’s tions on social media and
death.
heads the anti-abortion Associated Press of persistent disobedience
group Priests for Life, had of the lawful instructions of
been taken Nov. 9, and ter handle features him loud and clear.” his diocesan bishop.” The
that there was no chance wearing a “MAGA” hat His supporters immediately letter was first reported by
for an appeal. with a background photo denounced the measure, Catholic News Agency.
Pavone had been investi- featuring the former U.S. including the bishop of The statement said Pavone
gated by his then-diocese president, whom many Tyler, Texas, Joseph Strick- was given “ample oppor-
of Amarillo, Texas, for hav- conservatives praise for his land, who referred to U.S. tunity to defend himself”
ing placed an aborted fe- Supreme Court nominees President Joe Biden’s sup- as well as to submit to his
tus on an altar and posting who overturned the land- port for abortion rights as bishop. “It was determined
a video of it on two social mark decision guarantee- “evil.” that Father Pavone had no
media sites in 2016. He ing a constitutional right “The blasphemy is that reasonable justification for
posts frequently about U.S. to abortion in the United this holy priest is canceled his actions.”
politics and abortion, and States. while an evil president pro- The statement concluded
the video of the aborted In a tweet Sunday, Pavone motes the denial of truth & that since Priests for Life is
fetus was accompanied sounded defiant, compar- the murder of the unborn not a Catholic organiza-
by a post saying that Hill- ing his fate to that of the at every turn, Vatican of- tion, it would be up to the
ary Clinton and the Demo- unborn. ficials promote immoral- group to determine wheth-
cratic platform would allow “So in every profession, in- ity & denial of the deposit er he could continue his
abortion to continue and cluding the priesthood, if of faith & priests promote role “as a lay person.”
that Donald Trump and the you defend the #unborn, gender confusion devas- Laicization, or being re-
Republican platform want you will be treated like tating lives…evil,” Strick- duced to the lay state, is
to protect unborn children. them! The only difference land tweeted. one of the harshest sanc-
Pavone remains a firm sup- is that when we are “abort- Pavone had appealed to tions in the church’s canon
porter of Trump: His Twit- ed,” we continue to speak, the Vatican over restric- law.q

U.S. company to send team to look into Berlin aquarium rupture

ogy, which says it manu- small fish from a separate
factured and installed the set of aquariums housed
cylinder component of the under the hotel lobby were
AquaDom tank 20 years evacuated to other tanks
ago, said in an emailed in a neighboring aquarium
statement that “at this that was unaffected.
point, it is too early to deter- The AquaDom aquarium
mine the factor or factors opened in December 2003
that would produce such a and was modernized in
failure.” 2020.
Police have said they found Grand Junction, Colorado-
no evidence of a malicious based Reynolds Polymer,
act but the cause of the which says on its website
spectacular collapse short- that 41 of its acrylic panels
ly before 6 a.m. on Friday, were used in building the
A fish lays in the debris in front of a hotel where an huge aquarium in which two people were tank cylinder, said it “of-
has burst in Berlin, Germany, Friday, Dec. 16, 2022. slightly injured, remains un- fers its sincere concern” to
Associated Press clear. Berlin’s top security the hotel guests and work-
BERLIN (AP) — A U.S. com- a wave of debris, water official, Iris Spranger, told ers who were affected and
pany that helped build a and tropical fish crashing German news agency dpa to those who were injured.
huge aquarium in Berlin through the hotel lobby it on Friday that “first indica- It said that “we are also
says it is sending a team was located in and onto tions point to material fa- deeply saddened by the
to investigate the rupture the street outside. tigue.” animals and aquatic life
of the tank, which sent Reynolds Polymer Technol- About 400 to 500 mostly lost.”q