The Irish Association of Catholic Priests said it is “disturbed” that the group’s founder, the Redemptorist priest Tony Flannery, is under investigation by the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. In a statement on April 9 , the priests’ association—which represents about 20 percent of Ireland’s 4,000 priests—affirmed “in the strongest possible terms our confidence in and solidarity with Father Flannery.” The group said that the Vatican’s “individual focus on Father Flannery and inevitably, by implication, on the members of the association, is an extremely ill-advised intervention in the present pastoral context in Ireland.” In the past, Father Flannery has called for reconsideration of the church’s teachings on a variety of issues, including the ordination of women, the ban on artificial birth control and mandatory priestly celibacy.
Vatican Investigates Irish Redemptorist
Show Comments (
)
Comments are automatically closed two weeks after an article's initial publication. See our comments policy for more.
The latest from america
Papabile: How do conclave watchers come up with their lists of the next pope—and should we trust them?
The people of God see the bishop of Rome as a teacher, but they also unquestionably see him as a father.
Since the death of Pope Francis, lists of his possible successors have proliferated on social media and in newspapers. Should you trust them?
A Homily for the Third Sunday of Easter, by Terrance Klein