Vatican defrocks priest who accused Pope Francis of heresy

Pope Francis. Photo: Shutterstock

The Vatican has definitively removed from the clergy Spanish priest Francisco José Vegara Cerezo, who publicly accused Pope Francis of heresy and declared his pontificate illegitimate, reports Sign of the Cross Media.

The Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith confirmed the laicization of the cleric of the Diocese of Orihuela-Alicante following the conclusion of a disciplinary process initiated in 2024. The grounds for the action was a 20-page "Manifesto in Defense of Catholic Doctrine," in which Vegara stated that the decrees and declarations of the current pope undermine the foundations of Christian morality and contradict Holy Scripture.

In his document, the priest examined in detail a series of papal errors. In particular, he described the permission to bless same-sex couples (the declaration Fiducia supplicans) as an "abomination of desolation," and condemned the pope's statement in Abu Dhabi that "the diversity of religions is willed by God." In Vegara's view, recognizing the magisterium of Francis is tantamount to rejecting the entire previous teaching of the Church, since two contradictory doctrines cannot both be true at the same time.

Furthermore, the cleric insisted on the invalidity of Francis's election. Vegara argued that the abdication of Benedict XVI was legally null and void, and therefore the 2013 conclave had no force, and the Holy See remains vacant to this day (sede vacante).

The local bishop, José Ignacio Munilla, had already suspended the priest from all positions in February 2024, accusing him of breaking ecclesial communion. Despite pressure and "cautionary" meetings with diocesan leadership, Vegara did not renounce his convictions and in early 2025 filed an official complaint accusing the pontiff of apostasy. A year and a half later, the Vatican responded to the criticism with the maximum disciplinary penalty.

As the UOJ reported, the Vatican banned German bishops from allowing laypeople to preach at Mass.

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