An outspoken priest has hit out at intolerant and extreme right-wingers in the Church and questioned why priests like Fr Tony Flannery were being “persecuted with a zeal that is as pathological as the paranoia that feeds it”.

The country’s bishops refused to meet with six Irish priests silenced by the Vatican claiming their predicament was not an issue for the Irish hierarchy as the priests were members of religious orders and not diocesan priests.

Outspoken Redemptorist Fr Tony Flannery, who was threatened with excommunication under the reign of Pope Benedict, has paid tribute to the former pope for stepping down — because, whether he intended it or not, he had paved the way for open discussion within the Church.

Fr Flannery does his order or himself no service with his continued sniping and railing against the Church rules and dogma that he accepted when he joined the priesthood.

There is “no question” of Fr Tony Flannery facing excommunication, senior Vatican sources have told The Irish Catholic newspaper.

The Redemptorist religious order has come out in support of one of its priests who is to risk excommunication rather than give in to Vatican demands to stop questioning Catholic church teachings on sexuality and women priests.

As a 29-year-old lay Catholic I thought I might offer my own opinion on the Fr Flannery debacle.

The Association of Catholic Priests has said it does not expect members of the Irish hierarchy to comment on the silencing by the Vatican of one of the group’s founders, Fr Tony Flannery.

In recent days, we have again seen how an authoritarian Vatican responds to those who question the assertions it regards as absolute truths.

The public read with dismay the media accounts of Redemptorist priest Fr Tony Flannery being muzzled by the Vatican. He has done much good in his life.

The Association of Catholic Priests has accused the Vatican of trying to silence its founding member Fr Tony Flannery and warned the move will exacerbate the perceived “disconnect” between the Irish Church and Rome.

An 800-strong group of Irish priests has said it is disturbed over the Vatican's silencing of one of its members for his liberal views.

COMPARE and contrast, if you will, the utterances of two Catholic priests.

The Irish priest muzzled by the Vatican for his liberal views has received overwhelming support from colleagues worldwide, with a senior member of the Irish Redemptorist order saying liberal priests are being subjected to FBI-like attention from ultra-orthodox “Catholic agents”.

Dan Buckley profiles a priest at odds with some dogmas of the Church

The head of the Redemptorist order in Limerick has publicly backed his colleague, Fr Tony Flannery, whose liberal views have run foul of the Vatican.

Dissent in the Catholic Church, especially from members of the clergy, invariably elicits a mailed fist reaction from the Vatican. The move to silence Fr Tony Flannery, founder of the Association of Catholic Priests (ACP) in Ireland, is but the latest example of a ruthless and outdated policy of muzzling those who speak out.

The founder of the Association of Catholic Priests, Fr Tony Flannery, is being investigated by the Vatican because of his liberal views.

Catholic leaders have launched a stinging attack on organisers of the IFTAs for presenting an award to suspended RTÉ series Prime Time Investigates.

PRIESTS in the Diocese of Cloyne have yet officially to discuss reaction to the Cloyne Report, two months after it was published.

A REBEL union of Catholic priests has described Taoiseach Enda Kenny’s historic Dáil speech as being steeped in “dignity”, “strength” and clear on what needs to be done.

THERE was growing opposition in the Catholic Church last night to government proposals to bring the hearing of confessions under the remit of reporting of allegations of child abuse.