Controversial Catholic media outlet Church Militant, which gained a reputation for aggressive attacks on the organized Church, has seen its founder Michael Voris step down from leadership and face a $500,000 defamation suit. It is reported that it will be permanently closed due to a pending lawsuit.
“Church Militant,” a controversial Catholic media outlet with a long reputation for combative and hostile coverage of Catholic figures and issues, has been hit with a $500,000 defamation judgment. Suspend lunar activities.” report Catholic News Agency over the weekend.
“The Boston-based law firm Todd & Weld said in a press release this week that in a defamation suit brought by Father Georges de L’Er of the Court of Justice, the Church Militant “has agreed to do so in the amount of $500,000. “I have agreed to pass the sentence.” He is the pastor of the Diocese of Manchester, New Hampshire.”
The lawsuit stems from a 2019 article published by Church Militant in which author Mark Balestrieri, an ecclesiologist, said, “We have spoken to a number of anonymous sources who are said to have made the comments.”
Michael Voris, founder and CEO of St. Michael’s Media, speaks at the “Bishops Enough Is Enough” rally at the MECU Pavilion on November 16, 2021 in Baltimore, Maryland. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
After Father De Laer filed a lawsuit against Father Balestrai and Church Militant, Todd & Weld said that neither could “identify a single source who had said anything negative about Father De Laer.” Fr de Lehr said, adding that the article was “written with an attempt to discredit” the Diocese of Manchester.
The law firm also stated that Church Militant’s parent company, St. Michael’s Media, will “cease all Church Militant operations by the end of April 2024.”
Church Militant has not commented on the matter. The news comes months after the company’s founder, Michael Voris, announced he was resigning for allegedly violating the rules of his apostolate. “Morality” Clause.
“I need to conquer these demons,” Voris said last week. “The root cause was too ugly for me to see.”
No other details were reported at the time. Just last week, washington post has published several testimonies from employees of Church Extremists who claim Voris repeatedly sent shirtless selfies of him working out at the gym.
Voris’ problems began in April, according to multiple staffers. A strange image has appeared on Church Militant’s cloud storage account. It contained a shirtless selfie of Voris, with a portion cut out just above the pelvis, and a screenshot of a text message exchanged with someone. He expressed that he found the images sexually arousing.
These new images were prominent on the Dropbox account, which is usually reserved for things like the syllabus for an online class on Ephesians. Employees speculated that they may have been inadvertently uploaded from Voris’ cell phone along with business documents for employee viewing.
Voris previously confessed in 2016 that he had once led an “extremely sinful” life, including “living with gay men”, adding that he had admitted publicly in order to pre-empt attacks from his enemies.
