Frank Pavone

Frank Pavone
National director, Priests for Life
Pavone speaking at an event
Other post(s)	Catholic priest (1988–2022)
Orders
Ordination	November 12, 1988 by Cardinal John O'Connor
Laicized	November 6, 2022 by Pope Francis
Personal details
Born	Frank Anthony Pavone (1959-02-04) February 4, 1959 (age 65) Port Chester, New York, U.S.
Occupation	Anti-abortion activist[1]
Education	Don Bosco College St. Joseph's Seminary

Frank Anthony Pavone (born February 4, 1959) is an American anti-abortion activist and former Catholic priest.^[2] He is the national director of Priests for Life and the chairman and pastoral director of its Rachel's Vineyard project. He is also the president of the National Pro-Life Religious Council, an umbrella group of various anti-abortion Christian denominations, and the pastoral director of the Silent No More campaign.

Pavone was defrocked by the Vatican in November 2022 after having been investigated by the Diocese of Amarillo for placing an aborted fetus on an altar in his effort to elect Donald Trump as President of the United States and for posting a video of the aborted fetus on two social media sites in 2016.^[3]

The media controversy around Pavone involved tweets in which he called then-Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden a "[expletive] loser" and the Democratic Party "God-hating" and "America-hating." Pavone also tweeted that he would willingly hear the confessions of Catholics who votes Democrat, "but we are trained that in the absence of repentance, absolution has to be withheld." In response, the Amarillo Diocese issued a statement disavowing Pavone's comments, saying he used "scandalous words not becoming of a Catholic priest."