Frank Pavone, a defrocked priest who was formerly a Catholic adviser to Donald Trump, is engulfed in a sex scandal that is rocking the anti-abortion movement.
Pavone, 64, is the director of Priests for Life, a non-profit that funnels millions of dollars a year into the anti-abortion movement.
He is also an outspoken activist whose political activities have brought him into repeated conflict with the Catholic Church. In December 2022, he was defrocked by the Vatican after repeated clashes with his bishop over his use of social media to advocate conservative political causes.
Now, at least four different women have accused Pavone of sexual misconduct according to reporting by The Pillar. Pavone and Priests for Life have strongly denied the accusations.
The women, some of whom gave their accounts anonymously, accuse Pavone of inappropriate behavior in the workplace, ranging from unwanted sexual advances, non-consensual touching, grooming and lewd suggestions.
The allegations span a period of almost twenty years, from the late 1990s until 2018.
Two former members of Priests for Life have made public statements condemning Pavone’s alleged actions and calling for him to step down.
One is Father Stephen Imbarrato, who served as pastoral team member at Priests for Life from 2015 to 2019.
Imbarrato told The Daily Beast that in 2017 he was approached by a woman who said she had experienced sexual harassment from Pavone while working at the organization. He counseled her until she quit at the end of 2018.
“I only had direct knowledge of one victim, the woman I counseled over a long period of time,” Imbarrato told The Daily Beast via email. “That there were other victims over the years, were to me, suspicions that I could not verify, but I do believe these women who came forward and they are now proof of those suspicions.”
Imbarrato said he was bound by priestly confidentiality to the woman, but that he reported Pavone’s actions to Anthony DeStefano and Priest for Life’s board of directors.
“Priests for Life had an excellent sexual harassment policy on the books. But they had no human resource department and their sexual-harassment committee reported to, and was headed by, Frank Pavone. So it was neither safe nor independent,” Imbarrato says. “I went directly to the board and demanded a safe and confidential, independent sexual harassment committee that reported to the board directly.”
After the board of Priests for Life instituted a committee to tackle sexual harassment in 2018, Imbaratto says he resigned his post. He had lost faith in Pavone and his organization, he told The Daily Beast. Imbarrato is now calling on Pavone to resign and for an independent investigation into his actions.
“We have been enormously saddened by recent efforts of some to revisit old accusations that contain numerous inaccuracies, misrepresentations, and mistruths, that have already been addressed,” Priests for Life said in a statement to The Daily Beast. “Father Pavone’s bishop investigated these claims over a decade ago and subsequently confirmed him to be in good standing and fully suitable for ministry. Father Pavone faithfully served the priesthood during his 34 years of service.”
The organization also dismissed the allegations made by Imbarrato, describing them as “further falsehoods.”
“Sadly, this former member was unhappy with his assigned duties during the few years he spent with us, and he has been very vocal about his disdain for our national director. His accusations are deliberately spiteful,” a spokesperson for Priests for Life told The Daily Beast.
Andrew Smith, who served on the board of Priests for Life from 2014 to 2021, also believes Pavone should step down.
“I have been very surprised to see the reaction from Priests for Life has been solely one of victimization and self-aggrandizement,” Smith wrote in a statement published on Church Militant. “I frankly expected better. I have seen no public expression of sorrow or regret at these events, in interview after interview, all that has been claimed is victimhood.”
The allegations
The earliest known accusation against Pavone dates from 1999, when a woman in her early 20s working at Priests for Life said was targeted by Pavone, according to an account given anonymously to The Pillar.
She was hired on the spot, despite having no qualifications for the job, the woman says, and asked by Pavone to relocate to New York City, where the organization was based. She recalls that Pavone asked “if I liked roller coasters, and if I ate seafood,” the woman said.
While she worked in the organization’s office in Staten Island, Pavone would frequently touch her hair and put his arms around her while she typed at the computer, she says. He referred to her as his “spiritual daughter” and told her to call him “Dad,” the woman alleges. On a few occasions, she noticed that her bra was unhooked after Pavone had been rubbing her back, she says.
“He was this pro-life superstar. He was this celebrity, this amazing figure who wanted to give me all these opportunities… and I look back on it now, and it was all manipulation. It was creating a little paramour,” the woman told the outlet. “I think that he planned to have his way with me.”
Once, while traveling with Pavone to Washington D.C. for a convention, the two stayed in separate rooms in a hotel, according to a report the woman later filed with the diocese which was obtained by The Pillar. In the early hours of the morning, Pavone knocked on her door and asked to come in, she alleges. Once inside, Pavone asked her if she would like to “slip into something a little more comfortable.”
“She does not recall much of what happened next or how he eventually left her room,” the woman’s report to the diocese reads, according to The Pillar. “She kept repeating that she was very tired and wanted to go to bed. Eventually he left, and she dismissed it that Father was kind of weird.”
Soon after, the woman says, she reported Pavone’s behavior to Father Peter West, then Priests for Life’s associate director, but no action was taken. West told the Pillar he had no recollection of the conversation.
The woman, who had once planned to enter religious life as a nun, told The Pillar that her spiritual life was irreparably damaged by her experiences with Pavone.
“My relationship with God, that one’s still hard. It was dramatically affected, and has not recovered, and my relationship with the Church was profoundly affected,” she told the outlet.
After making her report to the archdiocese, the woman told the outlet she was never made aware of any details of an investigation. She had only one 20-minute call with Pavone’s bishop, Patrick Zurek.
“I don’t believe that the Diocese of Amarillo’s response was comprehensive or compassionate,” the woman told The Pillar.
And she was not the last woman to allege that Pavone crossed the line.