Tomislav Vlasic, a former Croatian Franciscan priest and Medjugorje spiritual advisor, has been excommunicated from the Catholic church.
The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) announced on 23 October they were throwing him out of the church.
In 2009 Vlasic was accused of teaching false doctrine, manipulating consciences, disobeying ecclesiastical authority, and of committing acts of sexual misconduct.
These incidents occurred during the 1980s when he acted as ‘spiritual advisor’ to six people in the town of Medjugorje, in what is now Bosnia and Herzegovina. The six said they experienced visions of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
A document signed at the time by the then-CDF prefect, the late Cardinal William Levada, also accused Vlasic of adultery. The priest had had a child with a woman in 1987.
The priest had been reduced to the lay state by a decree of Benedict XVI. Vlasic had asked to be released from his priestly obligations following the investigation by the CDF.
He was also relieved of his religious vows and excluded from the Franciscan Order.
Don Adriano Bianchi, Director of the Office for Social Communications for the Diocese of Brescia announced that the CDF had issued the decree of excommunication formally on 15 July this year.
He said: “The serious canonical penal provision was imposed on him due to the fact that unfortunately, during these years, Mr Vlasic has never complied with the prohibitions imposed on him in the canonical penal precept issued against him by the same Congregation, on 10 March 2009, under penalty of excommunication reserved for the Holy See.
“In fact, in all these years, in the Diocese of Brescia and in other places, he has continued to carry out apostolic activities towards individuals and groups, both through conferences and through information technology; he continued to declare himself a religious and a priest of the Catholic Church.
“Because of this penalty of excommunication, Mr Vlasic is prohibited from taking part in any way as a minister in the celebration of the Eucharist or any other ceremony of public worship, from celebrating sacraments or sacraments and from receiving the sacraments, from exercising functions, in offices or ministries or any ecclesiastical assignments, or to place acts of government.”
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