Italian priest suspended after YouTube broadcast criticising Vatican II

An Italian parish priest has been suspended from ministry after hosting an online meeting in which he declared that the reforms of the Second Vatican Council were contrary to the Catholic faith.

Don Leonardo Maria Pompei, pastor of Santa Maria Assunta in Cielo at Sermoneta, in the province of Rome, was suspended a divinis on 4 September by Bishop Mariano Crociata of Latina, Terracina, Sezze and Priverno, a former Secretary of the Italian Bishops’ Conference.

The measure forbids Don Pompei from exercising any priestly functions, from wearing clerical dress, and from publicly presenting himself as a priest. The suspension followed his decision to defy a diocesan order to desist from social media activity and to proceed with a YouTube broadcast in which he explained his rejection of the post-conciliar liturgy.

In the livestream, he told parishioners that he had concluded the Second Vatican Council was incompatible with Catholic tradition and that the Church needed to return to the ancient Roman Rite. He described his priestly vocation and his deepening conviction—reached through the study of older Catholic writers such as St Alphonsus de’ Liguori and the Venerable María de Ágreda—that the reforms of the 1960s had distorted the faith.

Prior to his suspension, Don Pompei had been issued a penal precept instructing him “not to convene any parish meetings or assemblies with the faithful of the parish of Santa Maria Assunta in Cielo in Sermoneta, and to suspend any type of activity on social media.” 

Don Pompei said he did not wish to form a following around himself or align with other controversial figures, but rather to promote the Catholic faith as he understood it. In his address, he cited the example of Don Enzo Boninsegna, who resigned from the priesthood in 1989 in protest against the Italian bishops’ permission for Holy Communion to be received in the hand.

The Diocese of Latina responded swiftly by naming Don Giovanni Castagnoli as the new parish priest of Sermoneta, with the aim of restoring calm within the community. Parishioners have been left unsettled by the sudden removal of their priest, which has become a subject of widespread discussion in the town.

The diocese has confirmed that Don Pompei’s case will be referred to the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith in Rome, which will evaluate his declarations and determine whether further disciplinary measures are required.

Earlier this year, The Catholic Herald reported on Fr Natale Santonocito, a priest originally from Catania, who was excommunicated by Bishop Domenico Sigalini of Palestrina for publicly rejecting the legitimacy of Pope Francis. Don Francesco D’Erasmo of Civitavecchia–Tarquinia also spoke against papal teaching but avoided censure by negotiating his position with his bishop.

Don Pompei’s prolific social media presence has attracted attention in recent years, with hundreds of videos in which he has urged Catholics to reject what he views as doctrinal errors. There is no evidence, however, that he has publicly questioned the validity of Pope Benedict XVI’s resignation or of Pope Francis’s election, a common heretical view held by some traditionalists.

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(Photo by ALBERTO PIZZOLI/AFP via Getty Images)