A Franciscan Leaves the Franciscans to Remain Catholic

A Catholic. 43-year-old Brother Simone Saggiorato is a Franciscan friar who has left the Franciscans in order to profess the Catholic faith. Wishing to be a coherent believer, he could no longer live in the Order of Saint Francis that has fallen into the most ridiculous modernism. AldoMariaValli.it published his testimony in October. Brother Simone entered the Franciscans in October 2001 and professed his solemn vows with enthusiasm in 2008. Over the twenty years in religious life, he came to the conclusion that it is not possible to live as a Catholic among Franciscans.

Hostility. One year after Francis’ election, Brother Simone who didn’t harbour any traditional ideas, realised that the Church’s hierarchies had taken a new, explicitly heterodox direction. Today, he realises the many gaps in his theological formation. Nevertheless, he was firm in some points which were questioned, such as family morality or the uniqueness of salvation in Jesus Christ. Simone began to oppose the new course in his order. He turned to the superiors for whom he had great affection and trust, but he found a surprising hostility.

Rediscovering America. Brother Simone appealed to freedom of thought so much vaunted in conformist circles, and often invoked to criticise dogmas and popes up to Benedict XVI. The liberals didn’t like this. He found himself isolated, and – believe it or not - accused of being "against the pope and the Church." He was relieved of all duties and invited to leave. So, Simone started approaching the Catholic faith with the help of a friend, and gradually found everything he was never taught: liturgy, doctrine, spirituality, Marian devotion, religious discipline, and the convincing Catholic worldview. Simultaneously, the Franciscans accepted the absurd Abu Dhabi document, the Pachamama cult, a Malthusian ecological ideology, the pandemic narrative, the vaccine as new salvation.

A Hermit. For two years, Brother Simone lived as a guest with the Dominicans of Avrillé who welcomed him with great Christian charity. He still has a strong desire to return to the Franciscans but submitting to them would mean going back to professing cheap modernism or at least keeping silent about it. He would be forced to profess heresies which the Church has always condemned, and which are now being spread by the same hierarchs. Presently, with the help of holy providence, Brother Simeone lives a hermitic life.