The dean of the Roman Rota has said that Pope Francis, if he wanted,
could remove four prelates from the College of Cardinals as punishment
for submitting and publicizing their dubia about Amoris Laetitia.The Italian archbishop, who heads the Church’s highest appeals court, did not suggest that Pope Francis would take disciplinary action against the four cardinals, but said that the Pontiff does have the authority to strip a cardinal of that rank.
Archbishop Pio Vito Pinto said that the Cardinals Raymond Burke, Walter Brandmüller, Carlo Caffarra, and Joachim Meisner could be charged with causing “grave scandal” by questioning the interpretation of the papal document.
He said that questions about the apostolic exhortation are inappropriate because the document reflects the work of the Synod of Bishops.
“The action of the Holy Spirit cannot be doubted,” he insisted.
Speaking at a conference in Spain, Archbishop Pinto said that although Pope Francis had not responded to the four cardinals’ questions, he had answered them indirectly by saying that “they only see white or black, when there are shades of color in the Church.”