Posted on 03/04/2013 8:10:50 AM PST by marshmallow
Italian priest burned image of Benedict XVI in church in northern Italy Father Andrea Maggi compared former pope to the Concordia captain
Cardinals arrived in Rome today to set date for papal election conclave
A Catholic priest set fire to a photograph of Benedict XVI in the middle of Sunday mass in northern Italy.
The now Pope Emeritus' first Sunday in retirement was marred by the actions of the clergyman in a petite medieval village on the border to France who accused him of deserting the church.
Father Andrea Maggi, 67, said the former pope was 'like the Captain Calamity of the Concordia who had abandoned his ship.'
Parishioners in Castel Vittorio, a hilltop village of 350 inhabitants, in Liguria, were shocked when the priest showed them a picture of the ex-Pope and then set fire to it with a candle.
Father Maggi explained his actions by saying: 'a shepherd shouldn’t abandon his flock.'
Castel Vittorio mayor, Gianstefano Orengo, who was summoned to tackle the errant priest said: 'It was a shocking gesture.
'I understand that Don Andrea is going through a delicate period from a psychological point of view.'
The local bishop said he was ‘mortified’ by the 'reprehensible and grave disturbance of ecclesial communion.
He said: 'I am mortified by the actions of Father Andrea, who in other respects has proved a priest who is generous and sensitive in his pastoral conduct.
'The gesture has caused confusion among the parishioners- many left the church.'
But Don Maggi remained defiant saying he 'had done the right thing'.
He told La Repubblica: 'I had said to myself the day that he goes I will burn this.'
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
didnt sinaide oconner do it first?
Sinead O’Connor tore up a picture of Pope John Paul II on Saturday Night Live. But the way things are going who knows, she might be ordained soon.
The jokes on him- there is no pope.
I think she was already “ordained” by an Old Catholic group.
Suspend the priest until the new pope decides what to do with him.
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