Public Statement of Support for Suspended Priest.
VATICAN (CWNews.com) — Father Nicholas
Gruner, a Canadian priest who has been suspended from his ministry,
has received support in an open letter to Pope John Paul II, signed
by 20 bishops. But the publication of that open letter in the Italian
daily Il Messaggero has prompted new questions.
Father Gruner, who for 20 years has
organized conferences on the messages of Fatima, has been suspended
a divinis — that is, forbidden to exercise his priestly powers. The
open letter which appeared in the Italian press today called upon the
Holy Father to restore the priest's faculties, and accused "Vatican
bureaucrats" of undermining his work. The letter used the same
accusation to explain why the appeal on behalf of Father Gruner was
published in the secular media, rather than relayed through normal
Church channels.
The letter was signed by 20 bishops
— 3 of them retired — from India, Malaysia, Brazil, Honduras, China,
Belgium, and Syria, all of whom indicated their desire to participate
in conferences organized by the controversial Canadian priest. However,
Vatican sources expressed some doubts that all these bishops knew that
their names had appeared on the document, or that they understood Father
Gruner's situation.
Father Gruner was suspended by his bishop
in the Italian Diocese of Avellino in 1976. When he continued his public
work, regardless of the ban, the Vatican Congregation for the Clergy
finally issued a statement in 1992, announcing that his annual conferences
on the Fatima message were organized without ecclesiastical approval.
In January of this year Bishop Natalino Zagotto, an auxiliary of the
Rome diocese, again reminded potential supporters that Father Gruner's
conferences were unauthorized.
Side note: We would recommend you stay away from the SSPX which dissents
from the Magisterium of the Church and go to the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter (FSSP) for the Traditional Latin Mass and Sacraments.
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