(LifeSiteNews) — Renowned Austrian philosopher Dr. Josef Seifert is calling on Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re to launch an official investigation into the many accusations of heresy against the late Pope Francis before the start of the next conclave in order to determine which cardinals should be allowed to participate in it.

“I suggest and humbly implore you that you ordain before the impending Conclave a just and fair examination of the many accusations of heresy and … also of possible apostasy of Pope Francis,” Seifert has said.

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Urgent intervention concerning the invalidity of the Conclave by Prof. Josef Seifert

“St. Pius V and Pope Paul IV have decreed that all cardinal appointments made by a heretical pope are null and void.”

Examine the accusation of heresy brought by Archbishop… pic.twitter.com/Wg3q51MGLv

— Nick Donnelly (@ProtecttheFaith) April 27, 2025

“If the accusation of heresy prior to Pope Francis’s election, during and after it, prove to be correct, two thirds of the present college of Cardinals would be excluded from entering the Conclave.

Seifert, 80, is a former member of the Pontifical Academy for Life. He has held a number of prominent positions at prestigious Catholic institutions during his lengthy career. He was scandalously not re-appointed to his post at the Academy by Francis in 2017. Instead, he and his confreres were replaced with pro-social justice, pro-open borders, and pro-abortion “theologians.”

In his letter, released April 24, Seifert urges Re, the current Dean of the College of Cardinals, to consider whether God is calling him to imitate not only St. Michael but also St. Athanasius and to urgently carry out the investigation.

“By this action you could save the Church from a historically speaking unique confusion of catastrophic proportions.”

Seifert also explains that it was after reading Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò’s statements that he came to understand that St. Pius V and Pope Paul IV decreed that “all nominations of Cardinals made by a heretical Pope are null.”

“I discovered through the text J’accuse of Archbishop Viganò two … probably dogmatic and certainly most authoritative pontifical documents on the issue of ‘heretical Bishops, Cardinals and Popes’ by Pope Paul IV and St. Pius V,” he states.

“These texts seem to me to be of the highest importance for the Church at the present moment.”

Seifert comments that “Popes St. Pius V and Paul IV decreed and fixed for perpetual times: that all decisions, nominations and elevations of bishops and Cardinals and that all writings of a heretical Pope should be declared null.”

He goes on: “according to these Papal documents and according to natural law, the Cardinals whom Pope Francis has chosen, cannot remain electors if the accusation of heresy or apostasy proves to be true.”

The documents Seifert is referring to are Pope Paul VI’s 1559 papal bull Cum ex apostolatus officio and St. Pius V’s 1566 motu proprio Inter Multiplices.

Archbishop Viganò has amplified Seifer’s letter by sharing it on his X account. He has also doubled down on his own insistence that the cardinals appointed by Francis should not be considered eligible to vote in the next conclave.

“The death of Bergoglio crystallizes, so to speak, a situation of widespread illegitimacy. Of the 136 Cardinal electors, 108 were ‘created’ by him; which means that whatever Pope is elected in the upcoming Conclave – even if he were a new Saint Pius X – his authority will be compromised by having been elected by false cardinals, created by a false Pope. For this reason, some time ago, I asked my Brothers in the Episcopate to clarify these aspects before they proceed with the election of a new Pope,” His Excellency told an Italian news outlet recently.

5. What will be the future of the Church now that Pope Francis has died?

The death of Bergoglio crystallizes, so to speak, a situation of widespread illegitimacy. Of the 136 Cardinal electors, 108 were “created” by him; which means that whatever Pope is elected in the upcoming…

— Arcivescovo Carlo Maria Viganò (@CarloMVigano) April 24, 2025

Brushing off anticipated criticism, Seifert proceeds to argue that “a valid official verdict that Francis is a heretic and therefore was not a valid Pope, as has been done with regard to several Popes before, also posthumously, would be of greatest benefit for the future of the Church.”

“This step seems to me the only right one, and the negative results it could provoke, the actual occurring of a division in the Church between the Bergoglio-Church and the true Church would be a much lesser evil than a tranquil church of disorder plunged into error. In fact, it would be a true blessing because it would lead to a revival of the true UNA, SANCTA, CATOLICA ET APOSTOLICA ECCLESIA founded UPON THE TRUTH. I am also sure that countless Catholics would welcome this step.”

“This has nothing to do with you acting against the Church or against the Pope,” Seifert adds. “On the contrary, it is an act of supreme love for the Church and Francis: for IF the accusation of heresy, having been launched formally and informally by high doctrinal and theological authorities against Francis, will be found true in a due ecclesiastic process, the Church will confront the faithful with the truth.”

Throughout his letter, Seifert reminds Re that he is praying for him and that he is “the highest authority in the Catholic Church” at the present moment and that he could be “comparable with St. Athanasius” if he acts decisively.

“I implore you in the name of Jesus Christ, of his and our beloved mother who kills all heresies, and in the name of St. Joseph, the terror daemonum, to consider whether you might not be called to help freeing the Church from the mentioned evils.”

“I ask you on my knees to examine whether God does not call you … to become a human instrument of saving the Church from the abyss toward which it seems to be rushing.”

“Without a Saintly dignitary of the Church preserving the doctrine of the Church from being sullied by Papal heresy, I am afraid only a direct intervention of Jesus or His Blessed Mother, can save the ship of the Holy Church from sinking into a hellish abyss of error, confusion and destruction, which God swore never to allow.”

“But I think, as St. Ignatius said, God wants us to believe that everything depends on God, but to act as if everything depended on us.”

To read Dr. Seifert’s letter in full, click here.