An Italian priest has been excommunicated after calling Pope Francis an “antipope usurper” in his New Year’s sermon.
Father Ramon Guidetti's address to the congregation at the church of San Ranieri in Guasticce, a village in the Tuscan province of Livorno, was a tribute to the first anniversary of the death of Francis' predecessor Benedict XVI.
In a video of the sermon that lasted more than 20 minutes and was shared online, Guidetti referred to the Argentine pope simply as “Mr. Bergoglio,” before describing him as “a Jesuit Freemason with connections to world powers, a usurper against the Pope.”
Guidetti continued that, unlike the “good Benedict,” Francisco had a “corpselike look into nothingness.”
His departure was quick. The document, signed by the chancellor of the diocese, states that Father Guidetti “publicly committed an act of a schismatic nature, refusing submission to the Pope and communion with the members of the Church subject to him.” The priest was therefore suspended “a divinis”, removed from his position as parish priest and no longer allowed to celebrate.
“I am calm,” he told Radio Domina Nostra, a radio show hosted by Alessandro Minutella, another priest who was excommunicated after an attack on Pope Francis. “But surprised at the speed with which the guillotine came down. I will frame the decree and hang it on the wall it will be something I will be proud of.”
Then he adds: “There is a little bitterness in the heart because of this blindness and this harshness on the part of the one who should be mother, the Church. She is supposed to be motherly and in reality she is a tyrant.”
Francis was made pope after Benedict XVI. resigned in March 2013. His papacy was welcomed by progressives but faced battles with a deeply conservative faction of the church.
Some critics of the Pope believe that his appointment was due to the resignation of Benedict XVI. was invalid.
In memory of Pope Benedict XVI. On the first anniversary of his death, an event was held at the Vatican on December 31st. In this case there were no schismatic voices, but there was no lack of criticism of Pope Francis. This also applies to the former Prefect for Doctrine of the Faith, Gerhard Müller, who affirmed that “with Benedict XVI. the blessing of homosexual couples would never have been possible.”
When asked whether this position did not represent a distancing from Francis, the German cardinal replied: “The Vatican is neither the Soviet Union nor a monarchy in which there is one person who decides for everyone and the others act as a court.”