Facebook Tells Catholic Monsignor: You Can't Use 'Monsignor'

"Monsignor" is an honorific title given by the Pope to a priest  who has given outstanding service to the church

Monsignor Charles Pope, a popular blogger and a Catholic priest in Washington, D.C., has been blocked from using Facebook. The social media behemoth says it prefers users to use their “everyday names” so that people know who they’re connecting with, and formal titles can get tagged as inauthentic.

“It’s not just me, it’s a lot of people with titles who are having trouble,” Msgr. Pope told CNS News. “It’s people in the military, people in religious life – even Native Americans are getting blocked. They told me I can’t use monsignor, but that’s who I am.”

Pope scanned a copy of his driver’s license and sent it to Facebook, hoping that the company will quickly fix the problem.

He also noted that last year Facebook apologized to the members of the gay community who were blocked due to the “real name” policy.

"I want to apologize to the affected community of drag queens, drag king, transgender, and extensive community of our friends, neighbors, and members of the LGBT community for the hardship that we've put you through in dealing with your Facebook accounts in the past," Facebook chief product officer Chris Cox said in a statement.

Monsignor Pope said he is not expecting an apology, but just wants to be reinstated. “You can be one of over 50 genders on Facebook,” he said, “but I can’t be a monsignor.”

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