Cardinal Marc Ouellet, prefect of the Congregation for bishops, in an open letter to Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, has released a detailed and devastating response to former nuncio’s accusations against Pope Francis regarding the case of Archbishop Theodore McCarrick, charging him with “blasphemy” for calling into question the faith of the pope and calling on him to repent.

He said he understood the “bitternesses and disappointments” that have marked his path in service of the Holy See, but said “you cannot conclude your priestly life in open and scandalous rebellion that inflicts a very serious wound” on the church “which you pretend to serve better by aggravating division and distress in the people of God.”

Cardinal Ouellet calls on Archbishop Viganò: “Come out of your clandestinity, repent of your revolt and return to better sentiments to the Holy Father, instead of aggravating hostility against him.”

He asked the archbishop: “how can you celebrate the Holy Eucharist and pronounce his name in the canon of the Mass? How can you pray the holy Rosary, and to St. Michael the Archangel and the Mother of God, when you condemn him whom She protects and accompanies every day in his heavy and courageous ministry?”