The Archdiocese of Toledo, Spain, has distanced itself from two diocesan priests who humorously prayed for a "good death" for Francis.
In the Catholic Church it is meritorious to pray for a person's good death. The archdiocese told Katholisch.de (29 February) in deadly seriousness that it condemns any kind of aversion to Francis.
The two priests were forced to apologise publicly and "future sanctions" cannot be ruled out. Before Francis, such a joke would have gone unnoticed. But things have changed since Francis ushered in the Stalin era of the Catholic Church.
The corpus delicti is a 22 February YouTube conversation entitled "Tertulia sacerdotal contrarrevolucionari" (Counterrevolutionary priestly gathering). During the online meeting, one priest joked: "I pray a lot for the Pope, that he goes to heaven as soon as possible."
The other speakers echoed this sentiment. "Then let us pray even more fervently," added the second priest from Toledo.
Following the archdiocese's threats, the …More