Bishop Strickland Tells Cardinals: Only a Catholic Can Be Elected Pope

By Bishop Joseph E. Strickland, Bishop Emeritus, LifeSiteNews, Feb 27, 2025 – 6:48 pm EST

The following letter, written by Bishop Joseph Strickland and addressed to the College of Cardinals, was first published on his Substack here. LifeSiteNews is reprinting the text in full below.

If a public heretic, or a man who is reasonably suspected of being a public heretic, receives sufficient votes, faithful cardinals have an obligation to refuse to accept the validity of his election. 

Your Eminence,

Very soon you will travel to Rome with the intention of electing a Successor to St. Peter.  

I know that you take your responsibility to elect a true and holy pastor seriously.   

Yet as the conclave approaches, I feel bound in conscience to share my deep concern – which I know is shared by many bishops, clergy, and members of the lay faithful – that this conclave will attempt the election of a man ineligible to hold the office of pope. ….

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