Michael Voris (pictured) stepped down as president of the Michigan-based enterprise dedicated to addressing the erosion of the Catholic faith.

The group stated "Michael Voris has been asked to resign for breaching the Church Militant morality clause" without divulging specific details.

The group cited the confidentiality of Voris' private matters.

Voris, in a video statement on X (formerly Twitter), declined to disclose the breach, mentioning personal health. He mentioned "horrible, ugly things" that he needs to address privately.

"I need to conquer these demons" Voris said, emphasising the personal nature of the challenges.

He requested continued support for the organisation he established.

Site critical of Pope Francis

Church Militant, known for its fervently right-wing politics and conservative Catholicism, lacks recognition as a Church apostolate and the authorisation to promote itself as Catholic, according to the Archdiocese of Detroit.

Known also for its critical stance towards Pope Francis, the site has recently featured content denying the climate crisis and criticising LGBTQ+ inclusion efforts.

It also endorses individuals such as Bishop Joseph Strickland, who was ousted from his Texas diocese after severe criticism of the pontiff.

Voris previously admitted past "live-in relationships with homosexual men" and other sexual relationships. He later denounced these actions as "extremely sinful".

This isn't the first controversy surrounding Church Militant.

In 2021, the group faced initial denial to rally outside a US Conference of Catholic Bishops meeting due to concerns over public safety.

Additionally, in 2017 a confidant of Pope Francis criticised Church Militant for framing the 2016 presidential election as a "spiritual war".

Voris' resignation comes amid ongoing tensions surrounding the group's alignment with right-wing politics and conservative Catholic views, adding another chapter to its contentious history within the Catholic community.

Sources

AP News

The warning — which has been decried by religious freedom experts — came from Interior Minister Manuel Valls at a conference on the official state policy of secularism.

Valls said foreign-born Muslims imams would be deported and radical faith-based organisations would be disbanded if a new monitoring regime finds evidence they might become violent.

Under the latter grouping he referred specifically to a far-right traditionalist Catholic movement called Civitas, that protests aggressively against what it calls insults to Christianity.

Valls said police were already observing Civitas closely because its protest campaigns skirted "the limits of legality". "All excesses are being minutely registered in case we have to consider dissolving it and defending this before a judge," the minister said.

According to a Reuters report, the French Catholic Church has kept its distance from Civitas, which is close to the far-right National Front and the rebel traditionalist Society of Saint Pius X.

Once a Catholic country, France has been officially secular since 1905, pushing aside faith in the public square and prohibiting sects that are seen as a threat to the public order.

Education minister Vincent Peillon said that secularism "is not about simple tolerance" but is instead about "understanding what is right and being able to distinguish good from evil".

Nina Shea, director of the Hudson's Institute's Center for Religious Freedom in Washington, DC, denounced the new French policy as a "gross violation . . . of basic religious freedom".

"Subjective terms such as 'radical' and 'religious pathology' open the door to the repression of beliefs and practices unpopular with the prevailing powers," Shea said.

Paul Marshall, a senior fellow at the centre, said such policies could have far-reaching consequences.

"The result of these restrictions is that instead of enforcing restrictions on violence, the state starts seek[ing] to extend its controls on what religious beliefs people may hold," he said.

Sources:

Reuters

EWTN

Image: Le Figaro