■ CM ■ An international group of clergy and academics is urging the world's bishops to investigate Pope Francis for the canonical crime of heresy in an open letter released Monday.
The group opens their letter — which was dated "Easter Week, 2019" but published on the feast of the St. Catherine of Siena, a saint who influenced several popes with her counsels and admonitions — by stating their two-fold purpose to the bishops. First, they accuse Pope Francis of the canonical delict of heresy; second, they request that the bishops take the steps necessary to deal with the grave situation of a heretical pope.
In a summary of the letter, the clerics and scholars place this open letter to bishops within the context of two previous attempts to correct Pope Francis on matters of faith and morals.