Editor’s note: The following is an open letter written by Fr. Janvier Gbénou (pen name: Fr. Jesusmary Missigbètò) to His Eminence Lazarus You Heung-Sik, Prefect of the Dicastery for the Clergy, and His Excellency Fernando Ocáriz, Prelate of Opus Dei, regarding his forthcoming canonical trial for publicly criticizing Pope Francis.
(LifeSiteNews) — Eminence and Excellency,
May Jesus and Mary bless you always! With humility and respect, I would like to request from your high benevolence, on the grounds of false accusations and lack of proof, the annulment of the trial opened against me on 19 February 2024.
1. According to the letter of 8 April 2024 from the Vicar of Opus Dei, on the basis of canon 1371§1, I am accused of “disobedience to what the Holy See imposed on you in the decree of 30 May 2022,” i.e. that I was to observe total silence on the moral and doctrinal errors of Pope Francis. But here is the content of the canon: “A person who does not obey the lawful command or prohibition of the Apostolic See or the Ordinary or Superior and, after being warned, persists in disobedience, is to be punished, according to the gravity of the case, with a censure or deprivation of office or with other penalties mentioned in can. 1336, §§ 2-4.” The accusation is therefore false because it does not take into account an important aspect of the virtue of obedience: the lawfulness of the order given. In fact, we must necessarily ask a question: Does Francis’ magisterium contain errors, YES or NO? If NO, then I am indeed at fault and should have remained silent. If YES, not only am I not at fault, but also, in order not to commit the sin of complicity and adulation[1], I have, as a priest, a grave moral obligation to inform Christians about the errors that Francis has refused to correct since 2016 and which are damaging their moral conscience. Every intellectually and morally honest person knows that the answer is YES, since Francis has received many filial corrections from his daughters and sons all over the world (university professors and experts in Theology, Morality and Canon Law) who have invited him to correct his errors[2]. Consequently, my disobedience is lawful since the order given in the decree of 30 May 2022 is unlawful.
2. According to the letter of 8 April 2024 from the Vicar of Opus Dei, my “publications may be subject to the penal type established in canon 1373 of the Code of Canon Law.” Here is the content of the canon: “A person who publicly incites hatred or animosity against the Apostolic See or the Ordinary because of some act of ecclesiastical office or duty, or who provokes disobedience against them, is to be punished by interdict or other just penalties.” What are the proofs of this accusation (dates and places, words and actions that constitute hatred or animosity against the Apostolic See or that provoke disobedience to a lawful order of Pope Francis)? In my letter of 9 April 2024, I asked the Vicar of Opus Dei to send them to me in writing so that I could prepare my defence, but to this day I have received nothing. This was predictable, since these proofs do not exist: my conscience and God are witnesses that I have never asked Christians to have hatred or animosity against the Apostolic See or to disobey lawful orders of Pope Francis. According to Canon Law and Civil Law, this second accusation is unacceptable because the accuser cannot present proof of his accusation.
3. Please allow me now to draw your attention to the recent condemnation of Cardinal Marc Ouellet (3 April 2024) by a French civil court, for having expelled a woman from a religious order, without any substantiated proof of accusation. It was this same cardinal who validated my unjust expulsion from Opus Dei, without proof of accusation, as I pointed out to the Vicar of Opus Dei in my letter of 26 March 2024. Should I in future turn to a civil court to claim damages for my unjust expulsion from Opus Dei and possibly for my unjust dismissal from the clerical state? In fact, on 22 January 2021, in Yamoussoukro (Ivory Coast), I was expelled (the word is not a bad one, because that is exactly what happened in front of witnesses) from my usual place of residence by a priest, with a ban on returning, a ban given to this priest by the Vicar of Opus Dei. After living for 23 years (1998-2021) in Opus Dei’s centres for numeraries, I was suddenly taken away from my usual environment and friends, and forced to live alone in a convent of female Carmelites for 5 months. I suffered psychological, affective and moral damage, and was even slandered, since several friends told me that Opus Dei directors in Rome, France and Ivory Coast, without any logical or medical basis, told many people that I had psychiatric problems that led me to publicly contradict Pope Francis.
4. However, I am not the only priest to have suffered such abuses of power and humiliations. There are many others in Opus Dei, including lay people. For example, José Luis Aberasturi, a Spanish priest and journalist. These abuses also exist in several dioceses around the world and involve priests, religious men and women, laymen and laywomen. The Coalition for Canceled Priests can confirm this to you. Here are just a few examples: Monsignor Juan de Dios Olvera Delgadillo from Mexico, Fr. Tullio Rotondo from Italy, three hermits from Scotland (Stephen de Kerdrel, Colette Roberts and Damon Kelly), John Rist, Josef Seifert, etc.
5. Is it possible that the Prefect of the Dicastery for the Clergy is silent and indifferent to the sufferings of so many priests around the world who are mistreated because they preach the truth about the relativism and situation ethics that Francis has introduced into the traditional teaching of the Church? Is it possible that His Eminence Lazarus You does not see that it is unjust and cruel to dismiss me from the clerical state because I inform the People of God about Francis’ errors? Did you dismiss from the clerical state Fr. Marko Rupnik, who sexually abused several nuns since 1985? No. Did you dismiss from the clerical state Fr. Krzysztof Charamsa who, after working for several years in the Vatican, appeared in the media on 3 October 2015 with his companion, claiming to be “a homosexual priest, happy and proud of his identity”? No. Did you dismiss from the clerical state Fr. Luigi Capozzi who, in June 2017, organised a homosexual party (with drug use) in a Vatican flat? No. Has the time not finally come for all Christians to demand an end to injustice and for Pope Francis to be invited to correct the errors of his magisterium?
Yours affectionately,
Signed, Fr. Janvier Gbénou
References
| ↑1 | “Every word or attitude is forbidden which by flattery, adulation, or complaisance encourages and confirms another in malicious acts and perverse conduct. Adulation is a grave fault if it makes one an accomplice in another’s vices or grave sins.” (Catechism of the Catholic Church 2480) |
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| ↑2 | Cf. Open Letter to the College of Cardinals, 29 June 2016, 45 signatories; Filial Correction to Pope Francis, 16 July 2017, 62 signatories; Open Letter to the Bishops, April 2019, 20 signatories; Declaration ‘Vírgen Santísima de Guadalupe, Mater Veritatis Salutaris’, 12 December 2021, 58 signatories; Filial Appeal to all the Cardinals and Bishops of the Catholic Church, 2 February 2024, 511 signatories; etc. |