The Archdiocese of San Antonio announced on August 16 that a former priest of the archdiocese had been found guilty of schism and laicized.
“It is with a heavy heart that I inform you that John Mary Foster, a priest incardinated into the Archdiocese of San Antonio on November 22, 2009, has been found guilty of schism, a crime against the faith for his refusal of submission to the Roman Pontiff,” said a message from Archbishop Gustavo García-Siller.
The archbishop explained that the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith had authorised a judicial process to adjudicate the claim of schism and that Foster had been found guilty on April 20, 2026.
Foster’s trial began on April 10, 2025, said García-Siller, and the tribunal “spent more than a year receiving evidence in the case, such as the statements, homilies, and teachings of John Mary Foster, hearing testimony from witnesses, and reviewing the actions of the accused”.
“After careful examination of the evidence, prayerful discernment, and having reached moral certitude that Foster was guilty of the delict of schism, a sentence was pronounced by the tribunal dismissing John Mary Foster from the clerical state and declaring his excommunication. The Dicastery of the Doctrine of the Faith was notified of the outcome and has acknowledged the judicial authority of the Tribunal to render such a sentence. It was the decision of Foster not to exercise his right of appeal to the Vatican,” he added.
Foster, said García-Siller, “has chosen to reject the Magisterium of the Roman Catholic Church by his words and actions”.
Namely, said the archbishop: “He has publicly referred to Pope Francis and Pope Leo XIV as ‘usurpers’. In publishing messages allegedly received from God, Jesus, and the Blessed Mother by a member of the Mission of Divine Mercy, for which John Mary Foster serves as the de facto leader, he has repeatedly and consistently claimed that Pope Leo XIV ‘is also a usurper and not a true pope’.”
Foster had been offered “countless opportunities to repent and to cease his schismatic actions and teachings”, said García-Siller. Foster had been prohibited from public celebrations of Mass, yet did so anyway, and he would purposefully omit the phrase “Leo our pope” from the Eucharistic Prayer, he said.
“In doing so, he publicly manifests his separation from the Church and the successor of Saint Peter,” explained García-Siller.
As a result of Foster’s laicization, Catholics are not to attend Mass with Foster or anyone at the Mission of Divine Mercy, said the archbishop, who also urged Catholics to cease any and all financial support they had given Foster or the Mission of Divine Mercy.
“Join me in praying for John Mary Foster, that he will repent and seek reconciliation with the Roman Catholic Church and be able to once again receive the sacraments of the Church,” said García-Siller.
