Pope John Paul II hated communism. Why? Because he was brutally oppressed by it. So it depends

on people's experience. And he can read apparently. I mean, he hated communism because it is the

smoker's Satan because it is diabolical. I'm going off. Are people, you're trying to wrap this up

and I'm like, oh, yeah. Oh, that's my twilight. I don't want to be accused to being a communist because I am not a communist.

I'm a very, I'm a red-blooded American boy, just like, you know, the rest of us.

Hello, everyone.

Welcome back to the Loopcast.

Catholic Votes weekly rundown on all things, faith, culture, and politics.

Today, it's me, Tom Pogasic, staff writer, Erica Ahern, and editor-in-chief of the Loop, Josh Mercer.

So, diving right into this week, bombshell news, not really easy for anyone to hear. Tough situation. Formerly, Father of Prank Pavone has officially been

laicized by the Vatican as of December 17th. He is no longer a priest. This is tough news for a lot of

people to hear as he was really a champion on pro-life issues,

founded priest for life, very outspoken in defense of life.

And unfortunately, it's really come down to a tough situation between church authority.

It's come down to church authority, as I guess the best way we can put it.

Why do you think that so many people are rocked by this news and feel very personally about it? I'll jump in.

It's not fun to talk about. I wish I didn't have to be talking about it. But yeah.

I think the silence is indicative of the discomfort that this brings. Yeah, I mean, I think for me growing up in the, you know, I was in high school in the 90s and then college in the early 2000s. I was involved in the pro-life movement. And he was one of the, if not the figurehead, the most outspoken member of the Catholic clergy.

You know, you could also talk about Father Newhouse at first things at the time,

but totally different feel in terms of activism and getting out there

and challenging the status quo on how the church was talking about the pro-life movement.

Father Pavone was a real

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