Month: December 2022
I Will Not Turn into a Sedevacantist if Benedict XVI Dies before Jorge Bergoglio
There is silliness going on at CathInfo with the news that Pope Benedict XVI is in poor health and may soon die. That silliness is that those who accept Benedict XVI will become “Sedevacantists” if Benedict XVI dies before Jorge Bergoglio. See the link below to the relevant thread and screenshots to a few of the posts. I wrote about this subject here. The term “Sedevacantist” did not exist before Vatican II. It is a term applied to those who hold that the Chair of St. Peter has been vacant since 1958 due to the alleged heresies of the conciliar popes. If Benedict XVI dies first, I will not automatically become a “Sedevacantist”, the term as applied above. Furthermore, even if Jorge Bergoglio was a saintly man, he would still be an antipope because he was invalidly elected. Therefore, I don’t need the argument of “heresy” to defend my position. If Benedict XVI dies, we will simply be in a period of “sedevacante”, as we were between the reigns of Pope Pius X and Pope Benedict XV. If Jorge Bergoglio dies first, will those who accept him as pope become “Sedevacantists”?
https://www.cathinfo.com/crisis-in-the-church/benedict-nearing-death/
The 1983 Code of Canon Law Teaches Us that the Heretic Is Removed from Office by the Law Itself
“Ipso iure ab officio ecclesiastico amovetur: qui a fide catholica aut a communione Ecclesiae publice defecerit.”
(1983 Code of Canon Law, Canon 194 §1.2º)
“The following are removed from an ecclesiastical office by the law itself: a person who has publicly defected from the Catholic faith or from the communion of the Church.”
Did you read that, my friends? A heretic is removed from office by the law itself. No declaration is needed. This is because public defection from the Faith, such as heresy, itself severs the cleric from the Church. The cleric, no longer a member of the Church due to his public defection, loses his office, and this loss of office occurs without any declaration. So you can see that Canon 194 §1.2º is the Church’s canonical formulation of the doctrine that public formal heresy itself severs one from the Church. This flies in the face of those who hold (heretically by the way) that one is separated from the Church for heresy only when the Church makes that judgement and not beforehand.
The 1917 Code of Canon Law Teaches Us that the Heretic Loses Office without a Declaration
“Ob tacitam renuntiationem ab ipso iure admissam quaelibet officia vacant ipso facto et sine ulla declaratione, si clericus: A fide catholica publice defecerit.”
(1917 Code of Canon Law, Canon 188.4º)
“Any office becomes vacant upon the fact and without any declaration by tacit resignation recognized by the law itself if a cleric: Publicly defects from the Catholic faith.”
Did you read that, my friends? An office becomes vacant WITHOUT any declaration but by the law itself. This is because public defection from the Faith, such as heresy, itself severs the cleric from the Church. The cleric, no longer a member of the Church due to his public defection, loses his office, and this loss of office occurs without any declaration. So you can see that Canon 188.4º is the Church’s canonical formulation of the doctrine that public formal heresy itself severs one from the Church. This flies in the face of those who hold (heretically by the way) that one is separated from the Church for heresy only when the Church makes that judgement and not beforehand.
Monsignor Van Noort Repeats the Teaching of Pope Pius XII on Heresy and Separation from the Church
“Public heretics (and a fortiori, apostates) are not members of the Church. They are not members because they separate themselves from the unity of Catholic faith and from the external profession of the faith. Obviously, therefore, they lack one of the three factors-baptism, profession of the same faith, union with the hierarchy-pointed out by Pius XII as requisite for membership in the Church (see above, p. 238). The same pontiff has explicitly pointed out that, unlike other sins, heresy, schism, and apostasy, automatically sever a man from the Church. ‘For not every sin, however grave and enormous it be, is such as to sever a man automatically from the Body of the Church, as does schism or heresy or apostasy‘ (MCC 30, italics ours).”
(Monsignor G. Van Noort, S.T.D., Dogmatic Theology, Volume II, Christ’s Church, 153)
Did you read that, my friends? Heresy automatically severs a man from the Church. It is not the judgement of the Church that separates a heretic from the Church. This flies in the face of those who hold (heretically by the way) that one is separated from the Church for heresy only when the Church makes that judgement and not beforehand.
Reports that Pope Benedict Is Dying
Pray for the Holy Father, Benedict XVI. If he dies, the Catholic Church will enter a period of sedevacante. Let us hope that the period will not last long. Fr. Paul Kramer believes that the period may last 24 months.
