Your Holiness, Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI,

This summer has been a painful one for the faithful, as it must also have been for you. For weeks we have been bombarded with revelation after heartbreaking revelation.

That princes of the Church in the highest positions of authority and influence have been wolves in shepherds’ robes.

That wicked men who are supposed to be our fathers in faith have exploited us, betrayed us, and preyed upon us as they indulge their unnatural perversions and advance their luxurious careers.

That the rot has claimed not only parish priests, but also bishops, cardinals, and perhaps, as Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò’s testimony has credibly claimed, even your successor, Pope Francis.

Your renunciation of the papal throne five years ago left us, your spiritual children, deeply confused. Many of us have struggled to understand why, after a life of faithful service to the Church and a pontificate during which Your Holiness did so much to revive the life of the Faith, you would leave us before the Lord had called you home.

One prevailing speculation is that you glimpsed the rot in the hierarchy, believed you lacked sufficient strength to uproot it, and resigned hoping that another would do that which you could not.

I cannot bring myself to blame you for resigning. You remain well beloved and respected by your children, a spiritual father to us.

Your Holiness, you are in a unique position to aid your children. Having once been supreme head of the Church on earth, you know how deeply abusiveness, homosexualism, and careerism have infected her. The cancer certainly runs deep, and Archbishop Viganò is even reported to have gone into hiding, afraid for his life.

Therefore, I beg you, Holy Father, protect us your children. Make known to the world whatever knowledge you have of the perversions and abuses, the cover-ups and the enabling. Publicly urge officials in the Vatican to release the documents to which Archbishop Viganò refers in his testimony and his later responses to critics. Confirm before the world the truth of Archbishop Viganò’s testimony; or if it be false, or in need of correction or clarification, make plain the whole, unadulterated truth.

Please, Your Holiness, defend us from the wolves who would sooner turn our souls over to the eternal torments of Hell than see true justice done on earth.

No matter what happens in the days to come, the faithful will continue to fight to restore and preserve the purity and integrity of Holy Mother Church, with full confidence in the promise of Christ: that the gates of Hell will never prevail against her.

But I implore you to act, openly for all to see. The intervention of our father, sincerely respected and loved throughout the Church, would be a singular comfort and source of renewed strength for us your children.