Priests for Life
Priests for Life is an anti-abortion organization based in Titusville, Florida. PFL functions as a network to promote and coordinate anti-abortion activism, especially among Roman Catholic priests and laymen, with the primary strategic goal of ending abortion and euthanasia, and to spread the message of the Evangelium vitae encyclical, written by Pope John Paul II.
On April 30, 1991, Archbishop John R. Quinn of San Francisco officially approved Priests for Life as a Private Association of the Faithful, a term drawn from the 1983 Code of Canon Law. The organization was later listed in the official Catholic Directory. Priests for Life has formed an international association of Catholics called "Gospel of Life", and has requested the Holy See to grant appropriate status and structure in the Church. Bishop Patrick Zurek of the Diocese of Amarillo stated in 2016 that Priests for Life is a civil institution, not a Catholic organization.
History
Finances
On September 6, 2011, Bishop Patrick Zurek of the Diocese of Amarillo, Texas, limited Frank Pavone to duties within the Diocese of Amarillo because of a protracted disagreement over financial transparency for Pavone's nonprofit Priests for Life and its affiliates – Rachel's Vineyard, which counsels people affected by abortion, and Gospel of Life Ministries, a lay association for Priests for Life. Pavone remained a priest in good standing until 2022, and the bishop did not allege fiscal impropriety, Gospel of Life Ministries lost its tax-exempt status for failure to file required documentation, according to Internal Revenue Service records.A Catholic World News analysis of tax returns indicated that between 2006 and 2008, Priests for Life spent less than 63% of its revenues on its programs. It also found that Pavone did not draw any salary from the organization. Charity Navigator Priests for Life three stars out of four, with an overall score of 82%. This score is calculated from multiple beacon scores weighted as follows: 90% for Accountability and Finance and 10% for Leadership and Adaptability. Charity Navigator also indicates that 75% of the revenue is spent on programs and 9% on fundraising. The Better Business Bureau Charity Review lists PFL as "Did Not Disclose" indicating that the "organization either has not responded to written BBB requests for information or has declined to be evaluated in relation to BBB Standards for Charity Accountability." It explained, "without the requested information, it is not possible to determine whether this charity adheres to all of the BBB Standards for Charity Accountability."
Upon an appeal filed by Pavone, the Congregation of the Clergy in May 2012 allowed Pavone to minister outside the Diocese of Amarillo, but recognized that he still must obtain specific permission to do so from his bishop.
In November 2012, the Congregation of the Clergy decided that since the principal office of Priests for Life was in the archdiocese of New York, the archbishop of New York was the competent authority to exercise vigilance over the association. Pavone subsequently complied with demands to straighten out the group's finances and returned to New York to become accountable to his home diocese.
In November 2014, Cardinal Timothy Dolan, Archbishop of New York, and former president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, wrote to the bishops of the United States to advise them that the Congregation of the Clergy had conducted an apostolic visitation of Priests for Life the previous year, and had subsequently requested that he "assist Father Pavone with several necessary reforms." Cardinal Dolan wrote to advise the bishops that Pavone had not cooperated with the reforms. As a result, the cardinal told the Vatican that "I am unable to fulfill their mandate, and want nothing further to do with the organization."
In 2017, PFL moved from Staten Island, New York, to Titusville, Florida.