Trumpanzee News - Catholic Priest's False Witnessing for Deranged Donald

Fr John Zuhlsdorf

Priest performed US 'election exorcisms'

Catholic priest and fanatical Trumpanzee, Fr John Zuhlsdorf, who maintains the popular Catholic, "Fr Z" blog, Has no worries about the truth of his claims when it comes to supporting President-reject Trump.

Falsely claiming his bishop had granted him permission to do so, he included the rite of exorcism after his noon Mass the day before the attempted coup d'etat at the Capitol on 6th January.

Having fully signed up to the evidence-free QAnon, pro-Trump conspiracy theory of a stolen election and massive electoral fraud, he claimed his reason for doing so was:

I think it’s amply clear, there’s enough evidence to demonstrate that there was fraud in some places, and people had to commit that fraud, it didn’t happen by itself. It seems to have been well-organised. I am deeply concerned that anyone involved in this has put their soul in terrible mortal peril.

We have to be concerned about the people involved in this who might have lied, or who might have committed fraud, concerning this election. This is not cheating to steal the election to 5th grade class president. This is something on a whole different scale, it’s quantitatively so vastly larger, that it’s qualitatively a different kind of a situation and sin. This isn’t like going over and stealing a newspaper off your neighbour’s porch.

He also claimed, ahead of the spell-casting session:

I have the permission of the bishop to say this, which increases the authority of the praying of the prayer,

This, like his claim of evidence of fraud, was a lie. As Bishop Donald Hying of Madison, who has oversight of Fr Zuhlsdorf, said:

A number of people have falsely concluded that I, as the Bishop of Madison, gave Fr John Zuhlsdorf permission to perform the rite of the sacramental of exorcism in relation to partisan political activity, to those seeking or holding elected office, or to recent developments in electoral politics in our country. [I did give him permission to carry out exorcisms] for the intention of alleviation from the scourge of the coronavirus pandemic [for a temporary period].

Which is about as close as the Bishop can come to accusing Fr John Zuhlsdorf of lying and misusing the permission he had granted him to hold a service of exorcism for a specific purpose unconnected with the reasons he used it for.

In other words, Fr John Zuhlsdorf was bearing false witness about his bishop!

Fr John Zuhlsdorf is a right-wing Catholic who supported much of Trump's extremist political agenda, and a relentless critic of liberal values. He is no fan of Pope Francis and at one point told his millions of followers that it was no sin to pray for the resignation or death of the Pope. He later apologised for his comments.

He was ordained in the diocese of Velletri-Segni near Rome and was working as a priest in Madison by agreement with the Bishop of Velletri-Segni. However, in his fanatical zeal to support Donald Trump, Fr Zuhlsdorf appears to have gone too far this time. In a statement, the Diocese of Madison announced:

After discussion between the Bishop of Madison and the Reverend Father John Zuhlsdorf, a mutual decision was reached not to renew the agreement with the Bishop of Velletri-Segni regarding a priest residing and ministering outside of his diocese of incardination. The Reverend Zuhlsdorf, who is in good canonical standing, will relocate from the Diocese of Madison to pursue other opportunities. The Bishop of Madison is grateful to the Reverend Zuhlsdorf for his faithful support of the diocese’s seminarians and priests, thanks him for his many years of steadfast ministry serving the diocese, and wishes him the best in his future endeavors.

And that's it apparently. He gets to keep his job, his income, even his 'standing' within the Catholic Church, and no doubt his pension when he decides to call it a day. And he can continue to lie to his followers, undermine democracy, foment division, dissent and insurrection in the USA and support a would-be fascist totalitarian dictator, all with impugnity.

Of course, this is by no means the only instance of a Catholic priest supporting right-wing political extremism with lies and deceptions and by sowing dissent and division. In early 20th Century Europe, these were ten-a-penny.

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