MORE than 1,000 people have signed a petition calling on the Vatican
to reinstate Irish priest, Fr Tony Flannery, who is threatened with
excommunication over his views on women priests, homosexuality and
contraception.Petition organiser, Brendan Butler, who belongs to the lay group We Are Church Ireland, told the Irish Independent that while most of the signatures are from Irish Catholics unhappy with the treatment meted out to the Co Galway-based Redemptorist, people from as far away as Brazil, Chile, Japan and America were also signing up.
Mr Butler intends to take the signed petition to the Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith in Rome over the coming weeks, and hand it in to its head, Archbishop Gerhard Muller.