The Vatican has defrocked a US priest, Frank Pavone, 63, for what it has deemed “blasphemous communications on social media”. The governing body of the Catholic church has announced the decision via a letter sent by Archbishop Christophe Pierre, who is the Vatican’s ambassador to the United States, to the US bishops.

The letter also states that Pavone has been found guilty of “persistent disobedience” of his bishop.

Who is Frank Pavone?

Frank Pavone was born on February 4, 1959 in New York’s Port Chester. He is the son of Joseph and Marion Pavone. Pavone, who had wanted to be a priest since he was a child, had become an anti-abortionist after joining the rally March For Life in 1976.

After high school, Pavone joined Newton, New Jersey’s Don Bosco College, which was associated with the Salesian Order. He later left the Salesians and joined the Archdiocese of New York.

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The anti-abortion activist’s stint with the New York Archdiocese came to an end in 2005 when he joined the  Diocese of Amarillo, Texas.

A letter to U.S. bishops from the Vatican ambassador to the U.S., Archbishop Christophe Pierre, obtained Sunday, said the decision against Pavone, who heads the anti-abortion group Priests for Life, had been taken Nov. 9, and that there was no chance for an appeal.

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Pavone had been investigated by his then-diocese of Amarillo, Texas, for having placed an aborted fetus on an altar and posting a video of it on two social media sites in 2016. He posts frequently about U.S. politics and abortion, and the video of the aborted fetus was accompanied by a post saying that Hillary Clinton and the Democratic platform would allow abortion to continue and that Donald Trump and the Republican platform want to protect unborn children.