Toronto
Priest’s praise of Francis plagiarised from anti-Catholic site
Allegations of plagiarism against a prominent priest have taken an unexpected turn. Fr Thomas Rosica, a Vatican adviser and CEO of the Salt+Light TV network, has apologised for multiple cases of using other writers’ work without attribution. Fr Rosica has gone on sabbatical. Now it has emerged that his most contentious statement was itself plagiarised. Last year, he claimed that Pope Francis “breaks Catholic traditions whenever he wants” and that the Church is now “openly ruled by an individual rather than … its own dictates of tradition plus Scripture”. These words were, it appears, taken from a blog by Richard Bennett, a Protestant writer who was criticising Pope Francis, the Jesuit spiritual tradition and the papacy.
