ROME - In the first of many counter-events to this month’s Synod of Bishops on the Amazon, key critics of Pope Francis blasted him for allegedly promoting widespread heresy in the Church, saying his agenda for the 3-week gathering is “demonic” and calling on him to resign.

“With all respect owed to the ecclesiastical authorities, I accuse all those who approved or who will approve the Instrumentum Laboris of the Amazon (synod) of polytheism, or more specifically, poly-demonism, because as the psalms say, all divinities of the gentiles are demons,” Italian journalist Roberto de Mattei said, speaking at a high-profile event in Rome.

Director of Italian Catholic news site Corrispondenza Romana, de Mattei issued an appeal to “the bishops who are still Catholic to raise their voices against this scandal.”

 “If their silence continues,” he said, “we will continue to seek the intercession of the angels and Mary, Queen of Angels, to save the Church from every from of reinvention, distortion and reinterpretation.”

De Mattei was among nine panelists participating in an Oct. 4 counter-event to the Synod of Bishops on the Amazon titled, “Our Church - Reformed or Deformed?”

Titled “New Paths for the Church and for an Integral Ecology,” the Oct. 6-27 synod will draw some 300 Catholic leaders from the Pan-Amazonian region to discuss issues including the rights of indigenous populations, land rights, migration, corruption, the Church’s missionary efforts in the area, local liturgy and sustainable development.