Together, the editors of two of the most notable traditional Catholic publications — The Remnant and Catholic Family News — have issued a public accusation of Pope Francis as one who has “defied the very words of Our Lord Himself” and has done great damage to the Catholic Faith. A brief excerpt explaining why now, and in this manner:

You have already provoked a fracturing of the Church’s universal discipline, with some bishops maintaining it despite Amoris Laetitia while others, including those in Buenos Aires, are announcing a change based solely on the authority of your scandalous “apostolic exhortation.” Nothing like this has ever happened in the history of the Church.

Yet, almost without exception, the conservative members of the hierarchy observe a politic silence while the liberals exult publicly over their triumph thanks to you. Almost no one in the hierarchy stands in opposition to your reckless disregard of sound doctrine and practice, even though many murmur privately against your depredations. Thus, as it was during the Arian crisis, it falls to the laity to defend the Faith in the midst of a near-universal defection from duty on the part of the hierarchs.

Of course we are nothing in the scheme of things, and yet as baptized lay members of the Mystical Body we are endowed with the God-given right and the correlative duty, enshrined in Church law (cf. CIC can. 212), to communicate with you and with our fellow Catholics concerning the acute crisis your governance of the Church has provoked amidst an already chronic state of ecclesial crisis following the Second Vatican Council.

Private entreaties having proven utterly useless, as we note below, we have published this document to discharge our burden of conscience in the face of the grave harm you have inflicted, and threaten to inflict, upon souls and the ecclesial commonwealth, and to exhort our fellow Catholics to stand in principled opposition to your continuing abuse of the papal office, particularly where it concerns the Church’s infallible teaching against adultery and profanation of the Holy Eucharist.

The entire first installment (because more is coming) of this accusation, including the introductory letter, is over 2300 words long. And the most striking thing about it is the feeling of insufficiency it induces. This part covers the falsification of humility and contemptuous treatment of the Petrine Office under Francis, his political meddling (and failure thereof, when it comes to murderous regimes), and finally, his scandalous religious indifferentism. Citing (and linking to) specific examples, the case is adroitly made, but one could come up with so many more instances to bolster the case.

It’s an astonishing thing when you begin compiling it all in one place. You realize that yes, Francis truly is the most damaging pope in Church history.

The next installment promises to tackle Francis’ “Absurd whitewash of Islam” along with his “relentless drive to accommodate sexual immorality in the Church” …and more. One wonders how many installments this will take. I think it could be a recurring feature for quite some time.

And while I don’t know what this document will accomplish, we aren’t consequentialists. It’s good, I think, to have such a thing on the record.

Not having read what’s coming in the future installment(s), I have to say that I suspect I’ll be willing to lend my own voice to it. The silence of our bishops thus far has been devastating. I hope they will join in the chorus of protest soon.