BRAZIL
Stabroek News
RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) – The Catholic Church has excommunicated a Brazilian priest after he defended homosexuality, open marriage and other practices counter to church teaching in online videos.
In a statement released late on Monday, the priest’s diocese said Father Roberto Francisco Daniel, known to local parishioners as Padre Beto, had “in the name of ‘freedom of expression’ betrayed the promise of fealty to the church.”
The priest “injured the church with grave statements counter to the dogma of Catholic faith and morality.”
The actions amount to “heresy and schism,” the statement said, the penalty for which is excommunication, or expulsion from the church.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.