In the face of the scandal of a Pope who can sign Dignitatis Humanae, radically change the liturgy of the Mass, codify a new ecclesiology, or make himself the protagonist for an aberrant ecumenism, etc., some have concluded that the last Popes cannot have been true Popes, or else that they have lost the pontificate because of such scandals. They refer to the discussions of the great counter-Reformation theologians on the loss of the pontificate (through abdication, insanity, heresy, etc.) and argue thus:
He who is not a member of the Church can’t be its head;
but a heretic is not a member of the Church,
now, Pope John XXIII, Pope Paul VI, Pope John Paul I and Pope John Paul II are heretics,
therefore, they are neither members nor head of the Church,
and so all their acts are to be completely ignored.
But then again, the argument continues, the same scandals are true of all the world’s diocesan bishops, who are also consequently non-members without authority; and the Catholic Church must be identified only with those who have not compromised the Faith and who refuse communion with these Popes” or “Bishops.” A minority of these will elect their own “Pope.”1
The argument’s strength is in the real scandal of the conciliar authorities’ impetus given to the Church’s “new direction”; its weakness is in not being able to prove that any of these authorities are formal heretics.
You are a “material” heretic without knowing it if you objectively contradict what God has said but through no fault of your own; you are a “formal” heretic if you do pertinaciously contradict what God has said, i.e., knowing that you’re denying what God has said and wanting to do this anyway.
Now, the ordinary way for the Church to ascertain pertinacity and enforce the consequences of one’s heresy by either excommunication and/or loss of office, is through authoritative monitions2 to the delinquent which he spurns (1983 Code of Canon Law, canon 2314, §1). But nobody can authoritatively admonish the Pope (canon 1556), and the Bishops can only be admonished by their superior, the Pope (canon 1557), who has not done so.
Therefore, pertinacity, and so formal heresy, cannot be proven.
But could pertinacity not be presumed from the insistence of these Popes on the new ways, and this in the face of all tradition and its present-day witnesses? Perhaps; but not socially i.e., as regards loss of office, etc., which must not be presumed but proven, otherwise societies would collapse.
The argument does not prove its point, and becomes less probable when you consider that there are other explanations for the “material heretic” Pope [a)—see below], and it becomes quite improbable when you consider its dangers b) or consequences c).
a) The liberal mind-set of a Pope Paul VI or a Pope John Paul II can be an explanation of their wanting to be Catholics and their simultaneous betrayal in practice of Catholicism. They accept contradictions; with a subjective and evolutive mentality, this is to be expected.3 But such a frame of mind can be convinced of heresy only by way of authority….
b) The Church is indefectible (Principle 3) not only in her faith and means of sanctification, but also in her monarchical constitution (Principle 4), comprising governing power i.e., jurisdiction, hence Vatican Is profession that Peter will have perpetual successors.
Now, we can understand a break in the line of Popes from the death of one to the election of the next, and that it may drag on.
But is indefectibility preserved if there is no Pope since 1962 or if there is no one with ordinary jurisdiction whom the sedevacantists can point out as such?
The Church is visible (Principle 3) and not just a society composed of those who are joined by interior bonds (state of grace, same faith,…). A society is recognized and maintained as such by its authority (its efficient cause).
c) If the Church has not had a Pope since the days of Vatican II, then there are no more Cardinals legitimately created. But then how is the Church to get a Pope again, as the current discipline grants only to Cardinals the power to elect a Pope?
The Church could have ordained that non-Cardinal “electors of the Pope” be capable of doing it, but we cannot go by any other way than the current discipline which ordains that Cardinals elect him.
A few sedevacantists hold that he has been or will be directly designated by private revelation from heaven. There are spiritual consequences of sedevacantism:
Sedevacantism is a theological opinion, and not a certitude. To treat it as a certitude leads to condemning with temerity traditional Catholics who disagree; and invariably it leads to one’s recognizing no spiritual superiors on earth. Each becomes, in practice, his own little “pope,” the rule of faith and orthodoxy, the judge of the validity of sacraments.4
This being so, we ought not to associate with, or, receive the sacraments from them, most especially if they set up sedevacantism as a certitude which all have to accept.
This being so, we ought not to associate with, or, receive the sacraments from them, most especially if they set up sedevacantism as a certitude which all have to accept.
