Conservatives ask Catholic bishops to declare heretic pope

A group of 19 Catholic priests and academics asked the bishops to declare Pope Francis heretic in the last ultraconservative offensive against the pontiff, on topics ranging from communion to divorce to religious diversity.

The group's most prominent figure is Father Aidan Nichols, a 70-year-old British Dominican priest, author of numerous books and one of the most recognized theologians of the Anglo-Saxon world. The rest is less known.

"We adopted this measure as a last resort to deal with the cumulative damage caused by the words and actions of Pope Francis for several years, generating one of the worst crises in the history of the Church. Catholic, "they said in a 20-page open letter.

The letter attacks Argentine clerics for seemingly softening the Church's position on several issues. In his opinion, he was not sufficiently explicit against the abortion and was too welcoming to homobaduals and complacent with Protestants and Muslims.

The document was released Tuesday by LifeSiteNews, a conservative Catholic website that is often a platform for attacks against the pope. Last year, he published a text of the former Vatican ambbadador to Washington, Bishop Carlo Maria Vigano, calling for the resignation of the pontiff.

A spokesman for the Holy See declined to comment on the letter, which includes dozens of notes, Bible verses, previous pope statements and a separate bibliography. The initiative also invites people to join a signature collection campaign.

The letter addressed to the bishops says: "That is why we are asking honorable deputies to urgently deal with the situation of Pope Francis' public adherence to heresy."

He also asks them to "publicly reprimand Pope Francis so that he can abjure the heresies he has professed".