After it became known that they were praying for the Pope’s death, Spanish priests have now announced that they will close their YouTube channel until further notice. As the Catholic News Agency reports, one of the priests said Wednesday: “After much thought and on our own initiative, to avoid our bishops having to make a difficult decision that would give victory to our enemies, we have chosen decided on a strategic retreat.” After the call to prayer against Pope Francis, the Archdiocese of Toledo distanced itself from two diocesan priests and did not rule out legal action against them.
By temporarily discontinuing their YouTube format, they may lose a battle, but they avoid “losing the war,” according to the priests. “Nobody is forcing us to do anything, nor have we been forced to apologize, but we are taking this step freely.” In contrast to their critics, their work pursued the good of the church.
What happened?
Several Spanish and Latin American priests – including two from the Archdiocese of Toledo – said in a live YouTube video in February that they were praying for Pope Francis’ death. “I pray a lot for the Pope to go to heaven as quickly as possible,” said one of the clergy from Toledo. Most of the others agreed with this intention and said that they were also praying for a quick death for Francis. “Then let us pray about it even more fervently,” the other priest from Toledo added afterwards. The clerics recorded the video on February 22nd, the feast of the Cathedral of Peter – the Holy See. On their traditionalist YouTube channel, the priests discussed hand communion, which they are fundamentally opposed to, at a “counter-revolutionary priests’ get-together,” as they described their online conversation.
After the video was discussed publicly, the priests announced on the platform “X” (formerly Twitter) that they had been misunderstood. They spoke about the Pope “in a humorous way.” The clergy apologized for their careless choice of words. One of the diocesan priests from Toledo is said to be one of the initiators of the signature campaign against the Vatican blessing document “Fiducia supplicans”, reported the magazine “Vida Nueva”. With the action, several priests of the archdiocese wanted to persuade Pope Francis to withdraw the declaration of the Dicastery of Faith, which had made it possible to bless homosexual and remarried couples under certain conditions. Toledo is considered a training ground for conservative clergy in the Spanish Church. (ben)