A Petition Against The Pope

History is repeating itself.

• In 1333, a group of Catholic theologians issued a formal correction to Pope John XII to correct that Pope's heretical teachings regarding the afterlife. After receiving this correction, the Pope acquiesced and, on his deathbed, recanted his heretical view. For the second time in Catholic history, it is happening again.

• Expressing “profound grief” and “filial devotion,” Catholic clergy and lay scholars from around the world have issued what they are calling a “Filial Correction” to Pope Francis for “propagating heresy.”

This Filial Correction, in the form of a 25-page letter, bears the signatures of sixty-two Catholic academics, researchers, and scholars in various fields from twenty countries.

They assert that Pope Francis has supported heretical positions about marriage, the moral life, and the Eucharist that are causing a host of “heresies and other errors” to spread throughout the Catholic Church.

Those who have signed this document assert problems with the Pope's 2016 document on the family, The Joy of Love (Amores Iaetitia): “With profound grief, but moved by fidelity to our Lord Jesus Christ, by love for the Church and for the papacy, and by filial devotion toward yourself, we are compelled to address a correction to Your Holiness on account of the propagation of heresies effected by the apostolic exhortation Amoris laetitia and by other words, deeds and omissions of Your Holiness.”

According to the AFP, "the group indict Francis on seven specific counts of heresy, born of what they term a mistaken modernism and sympathy for the teachings of Martin Luther, the founder of the Protestant reformation in Europe. The most notable heresy charge relates to the pope opening up the possibility of some divorced believers receiving communion, which critics see as undermining the principle of the indissolubility of marriage."

The correction was delivered to the Pope at his Santa Marta residence on 11 August 2017. It was then made public on 23 September 2017, six weeks after the signers received no response from the Pope. A petition has now been launched online for the filial correction of Pope Francis, quickly attracting in excess of 10,000 signatures.

The 62 clergy and lay scholars explain that, as believing and practicing Catholics, they have the right and duty to issue such a correction to the Pope “by natural law, by the law of Christ, and by the law of the Church” and that the correction in no way undermines Catholic teaching on papal infallibility.

The issues of contention appear to be how Pope Francis has dealt with adultery – and possibly homosexuality.

Luther and his challenge:

NOT A SIGNAL OF A SECOND REFORMATION

For a start, the key Roman error with respect to the nature of how a sinner is saved – Justification by faith alone in Christ alone – is not addressed. So any thoughts of this process of challenge precipitating some kind of Second Reformation are way wide of the mark.