In a recent Ann Barnhardt podcast, she asserts that Chris Ferrara, the Fatima Center scholar and attorney, told her that he and many other faithful Catholic pundits secretly agree that Benedict XVI did not make a legal abdication of the papacy. The Catholic Monitor highlights her statement here.
In a note to Canon212, Ferrara responds to Ann:
I don’t know who “Chris Ferrera” is, but I, Chris Ferrara, never said anything of the kind. If I said anything it would be something like “You can certainly make that argument, but we have no competence to judge the matter.” As I said on Taylor Marshall’s show, a future Pope or Council might determine that the last conclave was invalid, but that is a matter for the Church, not any Tom, Dick or Ann to determine.
Furthermore, the only time I have ever spoken face-to-face with Ann Barnhardt, at least that I can remember, was at Lake Garda, and the entire conversation involved my objection to her claim that the “data set” shows Bergoglio is not the Pope. We have no competence to assemble “data sets” and declare that the Chair of Peter is vacant.
