Can a Cardinal Cancel What a Pope Granted? SSPX Confessions | Mark Lambert

Published 1 day ago

Did a Vatican cardinal just try to cancel what a pope personally granted? In July, a note from Cardinal Fernández's doctrine office said confessions heard and marriages witnessed by SSPX priests are invalid. Pope Francis granted those faculties himself. Now Die Tagespost reports that the Vatican's own legal office has tried several times to get the note corrected.

Mark Lambert of Catholic Unscripted joins Joe McClane to walk through what the July 2 note said, what Francis granted in 2015, 2016 and 2017, what Archbishop Arrieta said about who can undo a pope's act, and what a Catholic who went to an SSPX priest for confession should think right now. Mark has called the July consecrations a grave mistake. The question here is whether Rome got the law right.

Then, Dr. Janet Smith on Cardinal Joseph Bernardin. This Saturday is the 30th anniversary of his death, and Cardinal Cupich and Vatican News are holding him up as a model for the Church. We ask what a devil's advocate would ask: what do his admirers say, what do his critics say about the seamless garment and the bishops he promoted, and how should Catholics weigh grave accusations that have never been proven against a man who cannot answer them?

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