By Matters India Reporter
New Delhi: Pope Francis has dismissed from priesthood the former spokesperson of the Catholic Church in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh.
“Now, with regret and pain I wish to formally communicate to everyone that by an official decree from our Supreme Pontiff Pope Francis, dated 22 October 2020, Anand Muttungal (Joseph M.T) of the Archdiocese of Bhopal, has been dismissed in poenam (penalty) from the clerical state and dispensed from all his clerical obligations, including that of celibacy,” says a November 26 message from Archbishop Leo Cornelio of Bhopal.
When contacted, Muttungal told Matters India November 27 that he was not aware of the Vatican action against him.
“I don’t know what offence I have done. Until date, the Vatican authorities have never sent me any query or information regarding any matter,” he explained through a Whatsapp message.
Muttungal claimed that since 2009 he has been “trying to improve the working of the Church, and I will continue my work. I believe it is my call from Jesus.”
“The Catholic Church teaches that once a person is ordained a priest, he is always a priest,” he asserted.
Muttungal had served as the archdiocesan public relations officer for seven years both under Jesuit Archbishop Pascal Topno and Archbishop Cornelio. The 48-year-old activist priest had also acted as the spokesperson of the Catholic Church in Madhya Pradesh.
However in 2013, Muttungal had allegedly rebelled when he was removed from the post of public relation officer.
He filed a complaint that the prelate along with his vicar general Father V C Mathew and archdiocese spokesman Father P J Johny had conspired to make him mentally unstable through slow poisoning. On February 7, 2013, a magistrate ordered the registering of a case against the three accused.
The prelate also said that he had consulted psychiatrists about the matter and they advised medicines. However, the plan was abandoned later as the priest began behaving normal, he added.
The prelate also alleged that Father Muttungal had tried to challenge his authority and discredit the Church with malicious intent.
Muttungal on the other hand said he had gone to the court after he failed to receive response from a police complaint he had filed soon after he became aware of the alleged conspiracy against him.
The archbishop’s latest letter says he and others in the archdiocese had tried for the past ten years to bring Muttungal back and reintegrate him into “our priestly communion, which turned to be an exercise in futility.”
The archbishop points out that the decision to dismiss Muttungal is “final “and there is no appeal against the pope’s decision.
The prelate “earnestly” prays that Muttungal “may gracefully accept the decision of our Supreme Pontiff and make a positive turn in order to begin a new chapter in life.”
Early this year, Muttungal was released from a jail in Bhopal after 50 days. He was arrested on December 11, 2019, from his residence by the officials of Economic Offence Wing (EOW), a special branch of the state police dealing with economic offences.
He was later produced before a special court that remanded him to 15-day judicial custody. The priest later tried to obtain bail from the same court without success.
Subsequently, he moved the principal bench of the Madhya Pradesh High Court at Jabalpur which granted him bail on January 28.
Muttungal was, however, released from the jail two days later after he furnished furnishing a bond of 50,000 rupees.
Charges against Muttungal reportedly included cheating, forgery, criminal conspiracy, criminal breach of trust, and forging documents,
The case was registered October 17, 2019, after almost two-years preliminary investigation.
“The priest is the first among eight people named as accused in the case,” a police official then told Matters India.
Pope Francis and his curia led by Cardinal Oswald Gracias, wear blinkers when it comes to defrocking Franco Mulakkal, K.A. William and their ilks. On 23rd November K.A. William projected himself as a Messiah of Migrant Labourers at a Webinar where he represented CCBI Commission for Migrants. If the Pope and Cardinal Oswald (who represents India and presents all pressing matters in a highly-diluted form) allow Mulakkals and Williams deflower many (nuns and laywomen), no wonder Migrant Class will become easy meat and multiply manifold! The way the Indian Catholic Church has been infested with mafia bishops and priests, soon we might witness a Webinar where Franco Mulakkal will be the keynote speaker on Celibacy and Chastity! These crooks have become highly sophisticated and are on the lookout to usurp the Media. Retired Justice Michael Saldanha who sent court notices to K.A. William, should send a fresh summons to the Pope too to wake him up from his slumber of sticking to only Hierarchical reporting instead of setting up a mechanism to gather information from a cross-section of the Laity! He and Chhotebhai have done their bit by packing off the Nuncio from India, for his sitting on the matter of Mulakkal and K.A. William.
The fault with Fr Anand Muttungal is that he took on the system head on, with little support. So it was very easy to make him a sacrificial lamb. But Mulakkals and Williams sit on tons of money looted from the Laity and can afford to hire top-notch lawyers. The Laity of the concerned Dioceses should ask the question: “Who is funding these criminal bishops?” Also the Laity is totally in the dark about the charges on which Fr Anand Muttungal has been found guilty to be removed from Priesthood. Does Mattersindia.com have a copy of the charge-sheet and the Decree of the Vatican? The whole proceedings seem to be shrouded in mystery. Doesn’t the Pope harp on Transparency?
God bless the pope
We are not call by Jesus to judge anyone because God knows what is truth and we should not forget that we are not perfect, we are bound to make mistake, when we put ourselves in that person shoe then we will realize how difficult is for the person to save oneself from wrong peoples
It is a bold step by our pontiff. Please extend the cleansing actions in the Syro Malabar Church also from the top to the bottom of the heirarchy.
So true where has chastity gone? Unheard of, obviously as they have several woman some of whom are forcefully made pregnant by an unknown dog of a cleric and then run after the mother when the child is grown up. the hidden children of the church. Some are so wickedly treated as they play favorites with the harem and some are hit kicked treathened and made to work for their favorite mate/wife. The others are side kicks who are made to have two to three children and then the mother is deprived of meeting the child. All with their respective family blessings. Their mothers take the cake. The other women gets foreign trips, weekends at starred hotels and the list goes on. While the one austised has an endless wait to meet the children for tomorrow never comes with a none (nun) or priest. The promise of tomorrow to see the child before a host of dam work is given. Now given up on the pups fare well with you priest who are fathers and the other woman. Fare well Eric and your sisters and one name age I have not been told monteiro.
Hey, if your proven guilty. You must pay. If your innocently convicted you must find justice and turn those accusations in a court of law. To get the Pope involved in unjust convictions are very serious. All facts must be presented in truths for the Pope to dismiss or remove a priest, bishop, cardinal or any person serving the church.
The Pope should dismiss all pedifilers from the church. No matter what the cost of not having enough priests. Pedifilers belong in jail.
Quite surprised to hear this turn of events. When he was visiting the U.S. by the invitation of the U.S. State Department, we were in touch almost every day, and I had to get some guiding help for him through some people in Boston. He got writing awards, a good author. Let GOD guide his paths.
There are several priests and bishops whom the Pope needs to defrock in India. The black sheeps are hiding under the holy garbe. When will the Pope do this, I wonder.
It is a good news that the Pope has acted to bring some discipline in the Church.
At the same time, it is indeed a matter of grave concern that some of the Bishops, Priests, Nuns,etc. of the Catholic Church at
different places have been acting as if they are Government Servants by resisting to their transfer to move from one place/position to another! Inspite of the fact that obedience to the heirarchy, chastity, and poverty (in most cases), are integral part of the vows taken by them, unfortunately, today’s Clergy is often seen fragrantly violating such vows but are exhibiting close attachment to the enjoyment of worldly pleasures, positions, luxuries, power & money! As per their vow of obedience, Catholic Priests have to put the good of the Church before their own personal good. This is seldom practiced! Better not to talk about innumerable reported instances of breach of their vow of chastity! It appears that those who are totally unfit to be continued as Nuns, Priests, Bishops,etc., are hanging on their positions . It is high time for the faithfuls everywhere to unite to clean the rotten ones from the Church’s heirarchial positions such as Nuns, Priests, Bishops,etc.
Sad news for many reasons, not the least of which is the absence of strong institutions in national conferences to deal with factitious issues and personal grievances ranging from personality class to corruption, moral turpitude and indiscipline. Many Bishops, Clergy and scholastics face allegations. Some clerics have served prison terms or have been extradited from western nations on charges as grave as rape and pedophilia and continue to be in the ministry. Grave indiscipline, refusal to accept transfers and postings and other issues in diocese need not have to be solved in courts of national law, or in police stations.
Unfortunate. Impartial observers say he had it coming.