Two signatories explain why they took the unusual step of ‘correcting’ the Pope
Bishop Gracida and Fr Andrew Pinsent: Why we signed the filial correction
Since the filial correction was published on Sunday, more than 80 signatories have added their names to the original 62. Here two of those new signatories, a bishop and a priest-academic, explain their reasons:
Bishop René Henry Gracida
A number of friends have asked me why I chose, last Sunday, to sign the filial correction. Frankly I am surprised that anyone would need to ask, because the answer is so simple and, I hope, self-evident: I love the Church.
I love the Church as the mystical body of Christ. I love the Church as the community of faithful men and women, young and old, liberal and conservative. It pains me to see people suffer, even as I personally suffer, in the present crisis that afflicts the Church.
The filial correction is so well-written, so respectful, so comprehensive, so detailed in explaining the basis for objecting to the seven areas of heterodoxy bordering on heresy, that I would expect many of my brother bishops to be happy to sign it. Perhaps naively, I thought that my signature might encourage more bishops to make their views public, and perhaps some will, but many are timid and fearful of retaliation by Rome.
As I have said before, I take hope from the precedent of the fourth century, when – according to Blessed John Henry Cardinal Newman – the majority of bishops were either Arian or Semi-Arian. It was the laity that supported the Pope and St Athanasius and helped them win the condemnation of Arianism. The laity of our time, who are suffering so greatly as a result of bad leadership, or no leadership, deserve to see more bishops announce their support of the correction.
I have also been asked what I believe will happen if no answer is given to the correction or the dubia. I regret that I must respond that I do not believe that there is anything then that men can do; a resolution of the crisis depends entirely on Our Lord Jesus Christ.
Bishop Gracida, now retired, has been an auxiliary bishop in the Archdiocese of Miami, Bishop of Pensacola-Tallahassee and of Corpus Christi
Fr Andrew Pinsent
I signed the filial correction not due to a lack of filial respect for the Holy Father, but because of the gravity of the situation.
The correction is a next step, consistent with the teaching of Jesus Christ (Matt 18:15-17) and St Paul confronting St Peter (Gal 2:11), that follows a series of unanswered petitions since 2015. These have included one with nearly 800,000 signatures from 178 countries and including 202 prelates prior to the ludicrously manipulated family synod; the appeal of the 45 scholars and clergy to the College of Cardinals to repudiate possible heretical readings of Amoris Laetitia; the dubia of the four cardinals, whom the Pope did not even have the courtesy to meet; and the statement of the confraternities representing thousands of priests worldwide.
As Prof Josef Seifert warned recently, before being sacked for making this warning, we are facing the risk of the total destruction of the moral teachings of the Catholic Church. I would add that the contradictions now being introduced deny reason itself and are catastrophic for the Church’s mission of offering salvation to souls. Since I have given my own life to the priesthood exclusively for the salvation of souls, I had to add my name to the correction.
Fr Pinsent is Research Director of the Ian Ramsey Centre for Science and Religion at Oxford University
ABYSSUS ABYSSUM INVOCAT / DEEP CALLS TO DEEP 
Thank you both, and all others who signed. It feels like the end must be near. There were definetely “signs” in the stars on Sept. 23, although I couldn’t piece it all out. I took pictures with my sky view and never have I seen such an alignment of planets “And there shall be signs in the sun and in the moon and in the stars, and upon the earth distress of nations, by reason of the confusion of the roaring of the sea and of the waves.”
In ‘The Book of Destiny’ by Father Bernard H. Kramer it is written by Fr. Kramer, who studied the Apocalypse for 30 years,that he believes that when St. John the Apostle saw the woman in the sky clothed with the sun, it portended a monumental event in the Church. It comes to mind after reading this that the Fatima centennial will be here in a few weeks. The woman is the Church. The child she is giving birth to refers to a Pope.
It is a good book … along with that of Father Sylvester Berry’s’ ‘The Apocalypse of St. John’ Father Berry’s is easier to read.
Thank God for men like you who have stood with Christ, not only in your capacity as religious but also as committed members of the One Holy Catholic & Apostolic Church, His Church which He founded on St. Peter & the First Apostles. So very few of the present successors to the First Apostles have the True Faith & the fervour that goes with it, yet they have risen to high positions in the CC without their faith being tested. Many wear ‘red’ the colour of martyrdom but would run amok if such a fate was ever to stare them in the face. They don’t know Christ because they don’t pray or use the Sacrament of Penance (one eminent Cardinal admitted he confesses only once a year). With such arrogance & immune from the fear of God they consider themselves to be at least on a par wth Him & many don’t even recognise the Second Person of the Most Blessed Trinity at all.
Thanks to all religious for standing with the laity on this issue & for adding your prayers to ours for the swift reversal of all that has been put in place to undermine the Truth. We look now for the formal correction which will, I am convinced, be the last chance given us by God before His patience runs out.