Priest ‘deeply regrets’ one-word change that invalidated thousands of baptisms

A Catholic priest says he “deeply regrets” an error that invalidated thousands of baptisms he performed in California, Arizona and Brazil over the course of his 20-year career.

The Rev. Andres Arango has resigned from his Phoenix parish over the mistake, a statement posted on the Diocese of Phoenix website about the error says.

All those who were wrongly baptized by Arango should now be re-baptized, the diocese said.

The problem comes down to a single word he changed, from “I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit” to “We baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit,” Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted wrote.

“The issue with using ‘We’ is that it is not the community that baptizes a person, rather, it is Christ, and Him alone, who presides at all of the sacraments, and so it is Christ Jesus who baptizes,” Olmsted wrote.

The diocese ruled all of Arango’s baptisms before June 17, 2021, invalid after consulting with doctrinal authorities with the Vatican.

“It saddens me to learn that I have performed invalid baptisms throughout my ministry as a priest by regularly using an incorrect formula,” Arango wrote in his statement.

He said he will now “dedicate my energy and full time ministry to help remedy this and heal those affected.”

“I do not believe Fr. Andres had any intentions to harm the faithful or deprive them of the grace of baptism and the sacraments,” Olmsted wrote. He also apologized for the situation on behalf of the local church.

Arango performed thousands of incorrect baptisms over the course of his duties in California, Arizona and Brazil over the past 20 years, the church told Yahoo News.

This story was originally published February 15, 2022 at 9:41 AM with the headline "Priest ‘deeply regrets’ one-word change that invalidated thousands of baptisms."