PITTSBURGH (PA)
Pittsburgh Catholic
by: Chuck Moody
Diocesan officials are cautioning clergy and the faithful that a magazine that has been distributed in some area churches is published by a group that is not an official ecclesiastical organization and is associated with a former priest who has been declared “dismissed from the clerical state” by the pope.
“In a number of our parishes, we have found that there has been the distribution of a quarterly magazine entitled ‘Thorns and Roses,’” said Father Lawrence DiNardo, diocesan vicar for canonical services and director of the Department for Canon and Civil Law Services. “This magazine is published by the Padre Pio Spiritual Refuge Inc. They are based in Pittsburgh. They are not an official ecclesiastical organization.
“The primary organization that honors St. Padre Pio is operated by the Capuchin Franciscan fathers in (Pittsburgh’s) Lawrenceville (neighborhood). The Padre Pio Spiritual Refuge Inc. is headed by a person known as Anthony Cipolla, a priest who has been declared ‘dismissed from the clerical state’ by our Holy Father, Pope John Paul II.”
Cipolla was banned from ministry in 1988 by Bishop Donald Wuerl following allegations of sexual abuse of a minor. Cipolla was laicized by Pope John Paul II in 2002.
Posted by kshaw at January 6, 2005 10:19 AM