Saturday, October 28, 2006

Does Quebec priest Father Gravel have the Pope’s Permission to Enter Politics?

LifeSiteNews reported on Oct. 24th that Rev. Raymond Gravel had announced his candidacy for the Bloc nomination for Repentigny, Quebec, in a coming federal by-election.

Canada. com reported on the story the next day.

Fr. Gravel is a longtime dissenter of official Church doctrine and has made his own support for abortion and homosexuality a matter of the public record.

The Vatican had emphasized in its 1983 Code of Canon Law that there was an irreconcilable and dangerous conflict between a priest’s vocation and the holding of office and the Code stated that “clerics are forbidden to assume public offices which entail a participation in the exercise of civil power.”

LifeSiteNews left Vatican contact information in its news report for those wishing to protest Fr. Gravel’s plans to enter politics.

On Oct. 27th, the Toronto Star implies in its report that Fr. Gravel has sought and received the Vatican’s approval to enter politics.

The Star reports that the rebel priest had at some time in the past “received a disciplinary letter from Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger before he became Pope Benedict XIV.”

I wonder why?

Can you imagine Papa Benedict granting permission to enter politics for ANY priest, let alone a priest who “has also been vocal about abortion rights” and who has “publicly decried the Roman Catholic Church’s position on same-sex marriage?”

So has Fr. Gravel received permission or not, and if so, from exactly whom?

Sadly, LifeSiteNews reported also that Fr. Gravel’s Bishop, Msgr. Gilles Lussier “is in a period of reflection and consultation and no decision has yet been made.” Who could blame someone for wondering what exactly is there in this case that demands reflection and consultation? There has been no public repentance on the part of Fr. Gravel nor any public renunciation of his past heresies. The scandal created by Fr. Gravel and which appears to be sustained by his Bishop is now reaching into the Vatican.

God help Bishop Lussier to put a stop to this, or failing that, God help his fellow Bishops to strengthen and restore him, and failing that, God help Pope Benedict XVI to bring the escalating scandal to a full stop.

This is another tragic and heartbreaking picture of the state of corruption in the Catholic hierarchy in Canada.

God have mercy.

2 comments:

Suzanne said...

To be fair, Father Gravel said in a recent interview that he WAS in favour of gay marriage, implying that he's not any more, and that he could not vote for a law that contradicted Catholic doctrine. You know how it is with dissident priests, they often Catholic doctrine to be something other than it really is.

He is reported to have publicly favoured legalized abortion. If he does not contradict Catholic doctrine, I hope he can vote for the private members' bills that protect the unborn child (should they come to a vote).

ELA said...

Sorry Suzanne, I'm not as lenient on dissident priests as you are. Dissident and undisciplined priests and bishops are the very reason we have legalized abortion in this nation. Dissent in only one definite area of Church teaching makes one a heretic, according to the Church. Heretics need to make very clear and very public their repentance before thay can be trusted at all. Until that repentance is forthcoming with Fr. Gravel, and until there is evidence that his Bishop or the Vatican makes a case on his behalf for an exception to Canon Law, then as I see it corruption continues to reign in this pathetic scenario.