Catholic ultra-conservatives want bishops to declare pope a heretic
Group slams the pontiff for allegedly softening the church’s stance on a range of subjects
Vatican City — A group of 19 Catholic priests and academics have appealed to bishops to declare Pope Francis a heretic, in the latest ultra-conservative broadside against the pontiff over a range of topics from communion for the divorced to religious diversity. The most prominent of the group is Father Aidan Nichols, a 70-year-old British priest of the Dominican order, who has written many books and is one of most recognised theologians in the English-speaking world. The others are less well known. “We take this measure as a last resort to respond to the accumulating harm caused by Pope Francis’s words and actions over several years, which have given rise to one of the worst crises in the history of the Catholic Church,” they said in a 20-page open letter. The letter attacks the pope for allegedly softening the church's stance on a range of subjects. They say he has not been outspoken enough against abortion and has been too welcoming to homosexuals and too accommodating to Protest...
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