Pirate priest duping couples into sham weddings, baptisms, mass and spiritual guidance unmasked
A so‑called “spiritual father” is being accused of playing priest and conning Catholics into bogus weddings and baptisms across Mexico’s tourist coast.The Diocese of La Paz blasted Gregorio Díaz Mora as a fraud and warned he has zero authority to perform Catholic sacraments anywhere in Baja California Sur.“The Diocese of La Paz informs all the faithful and the general community that the person identified as Gregorio Díaz Mora is not a priest of the Catholic Church and does not belong to or exercise any ministry with authorization or recognition from this Diocese,” the Diocese of La Paz said in a statement on Tuesday. Church officials allege he used photos of the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Guadalupe in La Paz to make his scheme appear legitimate while promoting himself on social media.“[It] can generate confusion among the faithful regarding their affiliation with the Catholic Church,” the Diocese added. Church officials say he operates through what looks like an official sanctuary page, calls himself a “spiritual father,” and offers paid video-call consultations along with “Catholic” weddings, baptisms and other rites.Díaz Mora appears to be running multiple pages on different platforms including Facebook, Youtube and TikTok –– which has around 140K followers.But there’s one problem: Sham sacraments, real consequences.
Under Catholic canon law, sacraments performed by an impostor don’t count.That means couples who trusted Díaz Mora to marry them — or families who hired him to baptize their kids — would have to do it all over again with a real priest if they want the Church to recognize it.The alert is the first official imposter warning of its kind in Baja California Sur, the diocese said, asking Catholics to double-check every would-be priest before handing over cash or setting a date.Church leaders say a simple phone call to a parish could stop families from shelling out money for fake ceremonies, invalid sacraments and a ...