Another Italian priest excommunicated after calling Francis ‘antipope’
A growing series of Italian priests have been excommunicated or suspended for rejecting papal authority.
An Italian priest was declared excommunicated this month, after a December video in which he referred to Pope Francis as an “antipope.”
The priest is the latest case in a growing series of Italian priests excommunicated or suspended for rejecting papal authority in recent months.
The Diocese of Palestrina announced in a statement dated Jan. 20 that Fr. Natale Santonocito “in accordance with canons 751 and 1364 §1 of the Code of Canon Law has incurred ipso facto in excommunication latae sententiae, with the effects and consequences set forth in Can. 1331 of the Code of Canon Law.”
Fr. Santonocito posted a video on Dec. 8, 2024, in which he said “we’ve had an antipope for the past 11 years. The so-called Francis is not the pope and has never been, because Benedict XVI did not resign the papacy on February 11, 2013.”
“[Benedict XVI] did not abdicate by renouncing the munus petrino, i.e., the investiture as pope that derives directly from God, as is expressly required by can. 332.2; rather, Pope Benedict made a declaration in which he renounced the ministerium, the practical exercise of power, and not the papacy,” Santonocito added in the video.
Santonocito’s views are widely known as “Benevacantism” — a portmanteau of the name of Pope Benedict and sede vacantism, the contention that the see of Peter is vacant. The fringe opinion, promoted by some prominent social media critics of Pope Francis, holds that his predecessor’s resignation was not canonically valid, though this theory has been dismissed by canonists.
Other sedevacantists believe the papacy has been vacant since the Second Vatican Council, as they consider the Church to have fallen into heresy ever since.
Santonocito himself has not publicly denied the validity of Vatican II. He was ordained in April 2023 and was known to celebrate Mass according to the post-conciliar norms.
The day after he posted his video, Santonocito’s priestly faculties were limited by the diocese “as a precautionary measure,” according to a diocesan statement.
The diocese also said that “a ‘Statement of the Bishop's Curia’ was circulated to the priests of the diocese of Palestrina … in order to help the faithful orient themselves in the face of the statements of Fr. Natale Santonocito.”
But according to the diocese, Santonocito published another video making the same claims on Dec. 14, after which the diocese opened a canonical procedure against him, which ended in the declaration of his excommunication.
The diocese says the bishop “verbally admonished Fr. Natale Santonocito during a meeting on the morning of Dec. 17, 2024. Fr. Santonocito then, during the extrajudicial criminal [process], appeared before the judge ... and still reiterated his positions.”
Santonocito’s excommunication is the latest in a trend of priests and religious being declared excommunicated or suspended after rejecting Pope Francis as the legitimate pope.
In Italy alone, at least five priests have been excommunicated or suspended for similar reasons since 2024.
The most notorious case is that of the former U.S. apostolic nuncio Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, who was excommunicated on July 5, 2024.
On Jan. 1, 2024, the Diocese of Livorno announced the excommunication of Fr. Ramon Guidetti after he said in a homily that Pope Francis “is not the pope” and that he is “a usurper.”
Bishop Simone Giusti determined that homily to be a “publicly schismatic act” resulting in a latae sententiae excommunication, meaning Guidetti was automatically excommunicated at the moment of the statement, with the penalty becoming fully effective upon its formal declaration by competent Church authorities.
On Nov. 13, 2024, the Archdiocese of Sassari, on the Italian island of Sardinia, announced the laicization of Fernando Maria Cornet, an Argentinian priest serving in Sassari since 2011, after Cornet wrote a book entitled “Habemus antipapam?” arguing against the validity of Pope Benedict’s XVI resignation and Francis’ subsequent election.
“Just as there cannot be two Churches of Christ which are simultaneously true, there are also cannot simultaneously be two true popes,” Cornet said in the book. “‘The pope is one.’ And the other? He cannot be anything other than an antipope.”
On November 18, 2024, Fr. Miguel Márquez, OCD, superior general of the Discalced Carmelites, announced the dismissal of Fr. Giorgio Maria Faré, OCD, from the order after he posted a video in which he defended a similar position.
“[Francis] has fallen into various heresies, something which proves his election is invalid on the basis of the infallibility of the pope,” Faré said in the video. “The cardinals created prior to 2013 must intervene for safeguarding the church and convoke a conclave for proclaiming a new pope.”
Although prominent in Italy, the trend is also present elsewhere in the Church, as seen in other cases, such as the Poor Clares in Spain and the Carmelites in Arlington.
Additionally, an 81-year-old Costa Rican priest was excommunicated in December 2024 after denying the authority of Pope Francis.
And a priest of the Diocese of Orihuela-Alicante in Spain was suspended in February 2024 after saying in a 20-page manifesto that Pope Francis is a “heretic” and his election “invalid.”
Something has gone seriously wrong in the minds of many Catholics, who cannot say "this is a bad person who abuses authority and needs to repent for his own soul's sake" without concocting hare-brained theories to the effect that a bad person never had any authority. I think it's the general failure of teaching about authority that characterizes all modern thought, signally including Counter-Reformation theories of the papacy.
Regardless, it's ugly and stupid.
It's the mirror image of the ugliness and stupidity of refusing to say someone is wicked and abusive *because* he has authority!
"Another Italian priest excommunicated after calling Francis ‘antipope’"
Now do Rupnik.