"Vatican Will Spy on Me As I Tour US" - Rebel Priest

By Nick Bramhill
Irish Independent
October 21, 2014

http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/news/vatican-will-spy-on-me-as-i-tour-us-rebel-priest-30680235.html

Fr Tony Flannery

Fr Tony Flannery, the founding member of the Association of Catholic Priests, was censured and forbidden to minister as a priest two years ago because of his refusal to accept the Catholic Church's stance on issues like the ordination of women, contraception and homosexuality.

But the 67-year-old, who has been a member of the Redemptorist Congregation for more than 50 years, said he was no longer willing to remain silent.

He now believes that his liberal views are shared by the majority of the Irish public - and even by Pope Francis himself.

Reform

The Galway native will push for church reform in an 18-date speaking tour across the US, which begins in Washington DC tomorrow.

But speaking ahead of his tour, he said he expected his words to be closely monitored by traditionalist church leaders in the Vatican.

He said: "I've absolutely no doubt that people will be sent out from the Vatican to watch me and keep a close eye on exactly what I have to say. Everything I say and do will get back to them.

"I'm even being watched very closely now. I know this because I've a blog of my own, and I just recently checked where it was being read around the world.

"After Ireland and the US, the next highest number of readers of my blog were located in Rome."

Fr Flannery said Pope Francis's recent efforts to soften the Church's stance on homosexuality at the Vatican's two-week synod on the family have given him the confidence to keep pushing for reforms here.

The Pope suffered a setback as proposals for wider acceptance of gay people failed to win a two-thirds majority of the synod's votes.

However, Fr Flannery said the Pontiff's apparent appetite for change has given him renewed hope for the future of the Catholic Church.

But he said he felt there was still little chance of him being allowed to return to active ministry again, so long as the "traditionalist and conservative" elements within the Holy See remained in power.

"But if Pope Francis succeeds at some stage in pushing reforms through, then who knows what the future may bring?

"Pope Francis has given people great hope.

"He has an agenda and he seems to want to make changes."

Fr Flannery added: "I hope he succeeds, but it won't be straightforward because he's facing a lot of opposition in Vatican."

Irish Independent