Francis Goes After Next Founder

Father Nicolas Buttet, 61, a former Swiss politician, was put under sanctions after a 2022 visitation of Eucharistein Fraternity which he founded in 1996, writes LeMatin.ch (January 23).

• Buttet is forbidden to preside the Eucharist in public, to hear confessions, and to contact his fraternity.

• Eucharistein which is supervised by Toulon Bishop Dominique Rey, has houses in Épinassey, Switzerland, and Château-Rima and Saint-Jeoire in France.

• The visitation accuses Eucharistein of "a pyramidal, abusive, infantilising system which has cancelled out the various dimensions of people's being, in particular their psychology" - which sounds like what Francis does in the Vatican.

• There are also complaints of "too much community life", a "lack of space for intimacy" and "inadequate human and spiritual formation" [as if that wasn't the rule in the Council Church].

• The accusation of an "omnipotent authority" which "robs members of their rightful autonomy as well as "fear of superiors" and a resulting "infantilisation of members" is also reminiscent of Francis.

• Interestingly, the exercise of obedience is accused of being "more reminiscent of a religious order in the 1950s".

• Buttet currently lives in a French monastery and has appealed the charges.

Picture: Nicolas Buttet, © wikipedia CC BY-SA, #newsWwhlezabdi