by Br. Alexis Bugnolo

Recently I commented on the argument by Dorothea Ludwig-Wang, Th. M.,* on her substack, that 133 Cardinal Electors voting at the same time would not make the result of a Conclave invalid. Her position is that it makes it illicit. — A day later, she launched in another substack, the calumny against me, naming me personally, saying that “there is no such thing as a Franciscan brother of private vows”.  Since she holds an academic degree, her claim might seem viable to some, so I respond here in public.

Her other attacks against me, often without naming me, is that my saying that the Conclave is invalid is not based on the authentic reading of the law. This I consider a more mendacious calumny than all others, but I have already refuted it in my article on the “Detailed Canonical explanation of the invalidity of the Election in the Conclave of May, 2025, Part I, according to Pope John Paul II“.

Attacking me is the normal recourse for not being able to argue effectively against my stated public positions on many topics. As a journalist, I have come to expect this. Especially because I write about the Vatican. — However, it should be obvious that if you are calumniating or attacking the personal status of a writer or reporter, instead of refuting his arguments by citing facts and laws, that you are not only showing that your have no valid counter argument, but that you are a dishonest person.

But this claim of hers is an old calumny launched by Father Matthew Schneider, but which is refuted by this letter (see below at bottom of this article) of the Secretary of the Congregation for Religious, Archbishop Gianfranco A. Gardin, OFM Conv, himself a Franciscan, which he sent to me in 2006. Read the last paragraph, and compare it with canon 1192 §1, which says, in the Vatican’s English translation:

Can. 1192 §1. A vow is public if a legitimate superior accepts it in the name of the Church; otherwise, it is private.

§2. A vow is solemn if the Church has recognized it as such; otherwise, it is simple.

§3. A vow is personal if the person making the vow promises an action; real if the person making the vow promises some thing; mixed if it shares the nature of a personal and a real vow.

This letter from the Roman Curia is available on the About Page here at FromRome. So Ludwig-Wang could have found it herself, before launching her calumny. — Please note that I no longer live in Mansfield, MA, so do not write to me there. — I had written to Cardinal Rodé, the Prefect of the Congregation, asking if I could live as a Franciscan brother by private vows, and whether another Friar could join me and found such a community. Two questions. The Cardinal had his Secretary write me an official response to both questions. — I have lived in the Dioceses of Fall River and Worcester Massachusetts, in the U.S.A., and in the Dioceses of Patti, Noto, Rome, and the suburbican Dioceses of Rome. In none of these has any of the local ordinaries ever contested that I was not “a franciscan brother of private vows”. — You can find the official notice in the Diocese of Noto, in their Dec. 2010 edition, stating that their Bishop, Monsignor Staglianò, even recognized me as such. And here is the copy of the juridically valid decree which he promulgated on my behalf.

But what is important is, that Prevost was not validly elected. He is not the Pope. Trying to dig up something against me to disprove that will always fail, because you can only refute that by addressing the canonical facts of the recent Conclave.

** I have corrected the above identification of Dorothea Ludwig-Wang, who holds a Masters in Theology, and denies being a numerary of Opus Dei.

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