Argyll, Jan. 9, 2020: Three hermits living on a Scottish island have been excommunicated.
The move follows criticism of Pope Francis, who they called a “heretic.” and said evil was “destroying” the Church.
The group on Orkney published the comments in an online declaration.
A spokesman for the diocese of Argyll and the Isles said the three were warned it would lead to excommunication.
He said offers of dialogue had been refused, so “the penalty now applies.”
The group – two men who call themselves a priest and a monk, and a lay woman who was a senior doctor – live on the island of Westray, Scotland. They run a controversial blog in which they outline their objections to the Church’s stance on issues including homosexuality.
In a statement Father Stephen de Kerdrel, Sister Colette Roberts and Brother Damon Kelly said that, although they believed that Pope Francis was validly elected, he had become “a heretic, ceased being a Catholic, and was therefore no longer Pope.”
On their website the group criticized Pope Francis and compared the Catholic Church to a sinking ship.
They said they had no option but to withdraw obedience from the Pope and sever communion with the Holy See.
And they accepted their stance would inevitably lead to them being excommunicated.
De Kerdrel said the bishop’s decision to implement the sanction was “rubber-stamping it.”
He said the three members believed the church was facing desperate times.
“Most Christian churches, with the exception of the Orthodox churches, are now so overrun by liberalism and secularism and humanism that they’ve ceased really being churches,” De Kerdrel said.
“But I actually think we’re seeing a great battle between Western society and Christianity. And the one they really want to take a pot shot at is the Catholic church.
“So, it almost seems that we’re joining the enemy, but we’re actually trying to save it from itself.”
Excommunication is the severest penalty the church is able to issue, though it can be reversed.
Source: theherald.newspaperdirect.com