Cardinal Raymond Burke and Cardinal Walter Brandmüller have written an open letter to the presidents of Catholic bishops' conferences condemning the "plague of the homosexual agenda".
The two surviving members of the "dubia" cardinals, so-called after they challenged Pope Francis with questions about the 2016 apostolic exhortation Amoris laetitia on family life, say the problem has been "reduced" to that of clerical child sex abuse.
While a "horrible crime", this is only part of a "much greater crisis", they say. They insist that decisive action is now "urgent and necessary".
Their letter was released on the eve of the Pope's sex abuse summit, which begins tomorrow.
Burke and Brandmüller continue: "The plague of the homosexual agenda has been spread within the Church, promoted by organised networks and protected by a climate of complicity and a conspiracy of silence. The roots of this phenomenon are clearly found in that atmosphere of materialism, of relativism and of hedonism, in which the existence of an absolute moral law, that is without exceptions, is openly called into question.

"Sexual abuse is blamed on clericalism. But the first and primary fault of the clergy does not rest in the abuse of power but in having gone away from the truth of the Gospel. The even public denial, by words and by acts, of the divine and natural law, is at the root of the evil that corrupts certain circles in the Church.
"In the face of this situation, Cardinals and Bishops are silent. Will you also be silent on the occasion of the meeting called in the Vatican for this coming February 21st?"
They repeat their complaint that the Pope never responded to their questions about his family life document, and specifically on the issue of admission to communion for divorced and civilly remarried Catholics.
"We are among those who in 2016 presented to the Holy Father certain questions, dubia, which were dividing the Church in the wake of the conclusions of the Synod on the Family. Today, those dubia have not only not had any response but are part of a more general crisis of the faith. Therefore, we encourage you to raise your voice to safeguard and proclaim the integrity of the doctrine of the Church."