Spanish priest retracts opposition to Church teaching

Madrid, Spain, Jul 17, 2012 / 15:05 pm

In response to questions by the Vatican's doctrinal office, Spanish priest Father Manuel Pousa I Engronat has retracted positions in his book that are contrary to Church teaching.

In his work titled "Father Manel. Closer to Earth than to Heaven" which published in February of 2011, Fr. Pousa said he had "blessed" homosexual unions among prison inmates and that he supported "voluntary" celibacy and women's ordination. He also said he had paid for someone's abortion.

The priest's retraction was published in the May edition of the Archdiocese of Barcelona's newspaper, where he stated that believes that "the Magisterium of the Church does not err, and specifically on the questions of abortion, contraception and homosexuality."

According to the website Germinans Germinabit, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith sent a series of questions to Fr. Pousa in January of this year. His answers were returned on Feb. 5 and on April 20, the congregation ordered that they be published in their entirety.

In his statement, Fr. Pousa explained that his desire to "live the universal brotherhood proclaimed by the Lord Jesus" has occasionally led him to make "erroneous or inaccurate statements, such as that priests are not necessary to celebrate the Eucharist, or that women could be priests, or that many things in the Church could be changed."

Fr. Pousa pledged he would remove from his book "those phrases that would be contrary to the doctrine or discipline of the Church.  I wish to live in 'hierarchical communion'."

"Speaking in the terms of the Second Vatican Council, I believe and state, and I do so in writing, that there is one Church, the People of God and the Body of Christ," he said.

He concluded his statement by asking that "what he has always publicly and privately manifested be accepted.

That I have lived and wish to live my faith in this God manifested in Jesus Christ and in his Church, through the gift that Jesus and the Church gave me to be able to live it in my priestly ministry, exercised with humility and gratitude, aided by the grace of God and the intercession of the Virgin Mary."