ALBERTO RAVAGNANI. PRIESTS IN CRISIS ARE THE CONSEQUENCE OF THE CRISIS OF THE ECCLESIASTICAL AUTHORITY

Crises are never sudden situations but have a beginning, a development and mature over time and over time give signs and symptoms that you can see, interpret and correct. When you don't do it you are guilty before God for a lost child, for a son who gave his whole life to a Church that he hoped would be a mother and instead was a stepmother.

- Church news -

.

Author
Ivano Liguori, Ofm. Cap.

.

Ieri will, while I was returning from the priestly ordination of a Capuchin brother at the cathedral of Oristano, I received the news of Alberto Ravagnani's abandonment of the priesthood, Ambrosian presbyter (cf.. Who).

I still had those terrible words in my ears of the ordination rite that the bishop pronounces in front of the elected one: "Understand what you do, imitate what you celebrate, conform your life to the mystery of the cross of Christ the Lord ", when in the same Church of God a fellow priest had made the decision to move on.

As always, in situations like these, there's no point in tearing your clothes, There is no need for judgments on the person who must remain sacred and inviolable. However, allow me to comment on the general ecclesial situation, on the life of us priests and on the Church which almost seems as if over time it has forgotten its role as mother to take on that of stepmother.

There is a peculiarity which must be taken into account. Don Alberto's case is completely different from that of the latter to influence the priest O social that, in order of time, they abandoned the priesthood (no need to name names). In these, the ideology masquerading as the Gospel was clearly evident, much closer to Democratic Party membership or LGBT+ activism than to Jesus Christ and his message. Don Alberto was different in this, he believed in what he was doing, he was an enthusiast and perhaps he really thought that all this could be enough to be a good priest. Son of that Milan to drink in which the Church has always looked forward with courageous choices, with that Lombard determination and parrhesia which is definitely a quality to be appreciated.

Don Alberto was, and he's basically a good guy, perhaps a little naive and naive, given their relative young age, for having been sent into the great ocean of solitary youth ministry, without the presence of a more mature and experienced person who could support and accompany him.

As a public figure and influence of the youth world, Don Alberto has said a lot about himself in his videos, probably even more than he would have liked, without realizing it. For some time, lay people and priests had realized that something must have happened in the heart of this brother priest: both his outward appearance and his words highlighted a very clear transformation that was veering towards an emergency that did not exist (deliberately?) recognized and which had to be supported in every way. I make no secret that we Fathers of the Island of Patmos, in our editorial conversations, we have expressed ourselves several times, but this was already more than a year ago, that the fate of this brother was sealed because from his images and speeches one could perceive the crisis that many of us know well, especially Father Ariel who has dedicated himself to the care of priests for years.

That's why I ask, where were those who were supposed to do this? And it is clear, I'm not looking for culprits but for those responsible, people who should have been able to respond to the preciousness of the life of a man who was asking for help.

I take it as good the discernment that Don Alberto's seminary trainers had made about him, deeming him suitable for the priesthood and presenting him to the diocesan bishop. However, it is natural to ask ourselves why there was such a rapid epilogue, just eight years of priesthood. Because if you want to think badly, It's a shame, I know, but you can guess, and if at the time of the seminary he was considered suitable even though he was not, his formators will have to give an account to God for the loss of such a dear son. Because priests like Don Alberto become the bad conscience of many bishops, rectors and formators of seminary and of that hierarchy that is no longer capable of shepherding the flock of God that has been entrusted to them. God's question to Cain falls on them like a boulder: «where is your brother?» (cf.. GN 4,9). The tremendously serious question that shakes the foundations of the hierarchical Church is this, and I summarize it in one question: if we are not capable of caring for our priests, to protect them from themselves, to take care of it, to make them robust and true men, how can we claim to guide the Christian faithful and the Church of Christ?

And I start right from that part of the ordination rite in which it is said that we priests must conform our lives to the cross of Christ. This is the whole mystery of the priesthood, let's put it clearly in mind. It's certainly not a Club Mediterranean for runaways who have not been able to find fulfillment in any other way and who are looking for cheap accommodation. This is what formators should teach and explore in depth during the seminary years but especially after sacred ordination because that is perhaps the most delicate moment where the priest finds himself walking alone and no longer has any protection.

The cross of Christ is not easy to accept and embrace, the Apostles were the first to avoid it by fleeing from Calvary, to accept the cross we need the fire of Pentecost which makes us foolish and gives us the courage to preach the conversion of the world. That world that Don Alberto naively tried to bend to evangelical needs - remember the collaboration with Fedez and the inevitable shipwreck? — together with the effort to sugarcoat worldliness as a new alchemist to make the Gospel more instagrammable and captivating for young people but which this epilogue reveals as the greatest vanity among vanities.

One of my superiors told me one day, quoting Paul VI as he said, that we are responsible only for those who remain and not for those who leave. Forgive me for my French but I consider these things to be enormous clerical bullshit. Even if it were true that such an expression had come from the mouth of a pontiff, in which circumstances and contexts is it to be verified, we must get it into our heads that every time a priest leaves the Church and abandons his ministry it is a defeat and a terrible failure without any ifs or buts.

In the face of a tragedy such as priestly abandonment The official press releases from the bishop's chancelleries asking for silence are of no use, respect and prayer. If we priests were parents, faced with failure or the loss of our child we would not react in this way. Let's say it all: the meat that hurts the most is the one that is attached to the bone and in this sense Don Alberto is in his own way a symptom and a victim. A symptom of a hierarchical Church incapable of generating children and supporting them except as professionals of the sacred; and a victim of those who observe from the balcony of the curia and think that the Gospel is just a question of marketing strategy and emotion waiting to pocket the hoped-for success and then pat the sacred professional on duty on the back.

From the columns of Patmos Island over and over again we have expressed ourselves on the need to take care of the human and spiritual formation of priests, reiterating how crises are never sudden situations but have a beginning, a development and mature over time and over time give signs and symptoms that you can see, interpret and correct. When you don't do it you are guilty before God for a lost child, for a son who gave his whole life to a Church that he hoped would be a mother and instead was a stepmother.

I don't know what Don Alberto's future will be, but I implore the Lord that other brother priests are able to be supported and accompanied to avoid a situation like this which is not a source of pride for the Church of God and which underlines all its human weakness. If we are not capable of managing the grace and talents that the Lord entrusts to us, and it's right that everything is taken away from us.

It just went into distribution today a book by Ariel S. Levi di Gualdo, under the title Freedom denied, which follows the previous one dedicated to I believe. I recommend reading it, because it also deals with the drama of these problems.

Sanluri, 1° February 2026

.

The books of Ivano Liguori, to access the book shop click on the cover

.

.

.

______________________

Dear Readers,
this magazine requires management costs that we have always faced only with your free offers. Those who wish to support our apostolic work can send us their contribution through the convenient and safe way PayPal by clicking below:

Or if you prefer you can use our
Bank account in the name of:
Editions The island of Patmos

n Agency. 59 From Rome – Vatican
Iban code:
IT74R0503403259000000301118
For international bank transfers:
Codice SWIFT:
BAPPIT21D21

If you make a bank transfer, send an email to the editorial staff, the bank does not provide your email and we will not be able to send you a thank you message:
isoladipatmos@gmail.com

We thank you for the support you wish to offer to our apostolic service.

The Fathers of the Island of Patmos

.

.

.