More False Priests — Now in Colombia: How to Spot Fake Clergy?
The Diocese of Pereira, Colombia, warned that Steven Gutiérrez is falsely presenting himself as a Catholic priest. The diocese says he uses social media posts, including manipulated images from diocesan activities, to mislead people about his identity and status. People are urged to be cautious of offers of Masses, blessings, sacraments, or spiritual guidance and requests for money from people claiming to represent the Church.
1 day ago
A Diocese of Pereira warning says a man identified as Steven Gutiérrez has presented himself as a Catholic priest despite not belonging to its clergy or having authorization to minister on its behalf. The diocese cautioned people against being misled by social-media images and urged them to verify clerical claims directly with church authorities.
The diocese said Gutiérrez used photographs from diocesan activities in which he appeared as a priest, along with manipulated images and other digital content that could create a false impression of his identity and church status. It stated that appearing in photographs with bishops or priests, or at liturgical events, does not prove someone is clergy or authorized to exercise priestly ministry.
The public was advised to be cautious about offers of Masses, blessings, sacraments, spiritual guidance, or requests for money from people claiming to represent the Church. The diocese said it could report the matter to the appropriate authorities for possible legal action.
The article says Catholic ministers are attached to a diocese or serve in a parish. It recommends checking where a person ministers and asking to see valid credentials; inability to identify a recognized parish or provide credentials may be a warning sign.
People can also consult a parish priest, who may be able to confirm whether the person is known locally or is a visiting priest from a religious order or another diocese. For questions about someone claiming to serve in the Diocese of Pereira, the diocese advised contacting its Episcopal Curia directly and reporting relevant posts or incidents through official channels.
Ecclesial authority and the discernment of authentic priestly ministry
Authentic priestly ministry is not established by a person’s claim, clothing, popularity, or private conviction of a vocation. In Catholic understanding, priesthood is a divine gift received and lived within the Church: the Church discerns candidates, the bishop or competent superior calls them to ordination, and ordained ministry is exercised in communion with the Church’s order of bishops. This authority serves the Church’s mission and the good of candidates; it is not a claim that church leaders create God’s call or that authority may be used arbitrarily.
The Church recognizes a genuine vocation as originating in God and involving the candidate’s free response. But the call is not treated as a private certainty that automatically entitles someone to become a priest. The vocation is received through the Church, discerned within her, and directed toward her service. The Congregation for Catholic Education therefore says that a person’s desire to become a priest, by itself, is insufficient; the Church must assess suitability and decide whether to call the person to orders.
“The interior call of the Spirit needs to be recognized as the authentic call of the bishop.”
This does not mean that a bishop replaces the Holy Spirit or can know a candidate’s heart infallibly. It means that an inward sense of vocation must be tested and recognized ecclesially. The discernment is meant to consider both the Church’s needs and the candidate’s good; the formation guidelines explicitly say these goods are not opposed but belong together.
The bishop, or a competent major superior in the relevant case, bears personal responsibility for calling a candidate to orders. That decision is informed by the work of seminary formators, including the rector, and by the candidate’s progress through formation. The Church’s guidance says the bishop must reach a morally certain judgment about the candidate’s qualities; if there is serious doubt, the candidate is not to be admitted to ordination. The rector also has a responsibility to express a judgment before ordination.
Discernment is therefore not simply a private exchange between an individual and a bishop, nor is it a popularity contest within a parish. It takes place through an ordered process of formation and evaluation. The 2016 formation document describes priestly vocation as divine grace sealed in sacramental ordination and expressed over time through the Church’s mediation, which calls and sends the priest.
That process examines more than intellectual ability or public charisma. The Church’s guidance names human, spiritual, intellectual, and pastoral formation as complementary dimensions, and gives particular importance to human formation. The point is not to produce flawless candidates, but to discern whether a person has the qualities and maturity needed for the ministry and can be formed for service.
Ordination is not merely a public appointment or a community’s decision to recognize someone as a leader. Catholic teaching describes it as a sacramental act through which the bishop ordains a man and the priest receives a lasting priestly character. The Church’s doctrinal text says that this character endures and equips the priest for his ministry; it also distinguishes ordained ministry from roles that do not require priestly ordination.
At the same time, priestly ministry is not independent of the Church after ordination. Priests exercise their ministry in communion with the order of bishops and serve as pastors, teachers of the Word, and ministers of the sacraments. The 2016 formation document describes priestly authority as service for the good of the flock, not domination. Thus, two ideas must be held together: ordination gives a sacramental reality, and the priest’s ministry belongs within the Church’s communion and mission.
This distinction matters when assessing claims to priestly ministry. A person’s assertion that he is a priest does not itself establish that the Church ordained him or sent him to minister. Nor does an appearance of religious authority prove sacramental ordination. Conversely, the supplied texts do not establish the facts needed to judge the sacramental status of any particular individual. That would require reliable information from the competent Church authority.
For Catholics, ecclesial discernment is a safeguard for the sacraments and the community, not merely an administrative formality. The Church’s authority to judge suitability protects the candidate as well as the Church’s mission. A priestly vocation is a gift, but the person who believes he has received it must accept the Church’s formation, judgment, and conditions rather than treating personal conviction as a right to ordination.
The faithful should therefore be cautious about claims to priestly status that lack credible ecclesial confirmation. When a concern arises, the responsible course is to seek clarification from the relevant diocese or other competent Church authority rather than relying on social-media claims or appearances. This follows from the Church’s role in discerning and sending ministers; it does not, by itself, determine whether a particular person’s ordination is valid or whether he has authorization for a particular ministry.
The central principle is that priestly ministry is both sacramental and ecclesial: it is received through ordination, discerned and conferred through the Church, and exercised in communion and service. Neither private self-appointment nor authority detached from service expresses the Catholic understanding of authentic ministry.