The Pope's representative in Switzerland, US Archbishop Thomas Gullickson, has been accused by 12 Catholic reform groups there of publicly criticising him.

According to the National Catholic Reporter, the groups have formed an alliance called 'Enough is enough' and have warned the Catholic bishops in Switzerland that the Archbishop is endangering religious unity.

"We are seriously concerned that the nuncio is splitting the Swiss Church," the alliance says in its letter to the bishops.

One alliance member, Markus Arnold, the head of the Religious Education Department at Lucerne University, has also written to Swiss President Johann Schneider-Ammann asking him "not to allow Gullickson to have a long-term, poisonous effect on the climate in Switzerland. We have enough problems with religious fanaticism as it is. We do not need a nuncio who wants to revive this fanaticism in the Catholic Church."

Gullickson is a keen user of Twitter and frequently links to articles promoting traditionalist positions at odds with Pope Francis' more open and welcoming style. He has also linked to articles critical of Francis' meeting with Patriarch Kirill and his forthcoming mass for migrants in Mexico.

He also expresses admiration for the controversial Society of St Pius X, which campaigns for the Church to return to the doctrines and practices of before the Second Vatican Council, including the Latin mass.

According to NCR, another alliance member, Erwin Koller, the president of the Herbert-Haag-Foundation for Freedom in the Church, told schweizamsonntag.ch that "the way Gullickson is opposing Pope Francis is offensive. If a Swiss diplomat had said such things about the Swiss government, he would long since have been dismissed".