CathInfo.com

Particularly interesting is Ted's belief, "though I cannot be certain," that Bobby was responsible for the excommunication of Fr. Leonard Feeney. Bobby was "troubled" that Fr. Feeney taught "that salvation for people outside the Catholic Church was impossible. … Dad could not believe that Bobby had heard Father Feeney correctly. 'But,' he said, 'if you feel strongly that you did, I'm going to go into the other room and call Richard.  Maybe he'll want you to go up to Boston and see him.' 'Richard' was Richard Cardinal Cushing."

"Bobby said he felt strongly indeed. Bang! Dad called up 'Richard' and arranged for Bobby to visit him," leading, Ted says, to the Cardinal's banning Fr. Feeney from speaking, the condemnation of his teachings and the suspension of his duties, and then his excommunication. "Nor did [Bobby's] principled gesture end with the banishment of Feeney. Reinforced by Cardinal Cushing's discussions with the papal hierarchy in Rome, it became an animating impulse of the Second Ecuмenical Council of the Vatican, which opened under Pope John XXIII in 1962." Those who think the Holy Spirit inspired Vatican II might be a bit surprised to find out that Bobby Kennedy was its animating impulse.