On September 18, 2023, the online version of the Remnant Newspaper published a letter by His Excellency Bishop Athanasius Schneider titled “On the Validity of the Pontificate of Pope Francis” (see pdf version here). The proposition that His Excellency asserts that I want to bring to your attention is the following:
“Even in the case of a heretical pope he will not lose his office automatically and there is no body within the Church to declare him deposed because of heresy.”
This is essentially Opinion No. 3 of the Five Opinions expounded upon by St. Robert Bellarmine:
That a pope who is even a manifest heretic is not deposed ipso facto and cannot be deposed by the Church.
Another cleric I know that holds to Opinion No. 3 is Fr. David Hewko (see this post). Like Fr. David Hewko, Bishop Schneider’s position opposes the Magisterium of Pope Pius XII who taught in Mystici Corporis the following:
“Siquidem non omne admissum, etsi grave scelus, eiusmodi est ut — sicut schisma, vel haeresis, vel apostasia faciunt — suapte natura hominem ab Ecclesiae Corpore separet.”
“For not every sin, however grave it may be, is such as of its own nature to sever a man from the Body of the Church, as does schism or heresy or apostasy.”
Here Pope Pius XII teaches us that the sin of heresy by its very nature severs a man (who publicly manifests formal heresy) from the Body of the Church. Now a thing that causes a change due to its own nature allows for no exceptions to the change that that thing causes. Therefore, the public sin of manifest formal heresy would, because of this public sin’s own nature, cause the one committing this public sin to sever from the Body of the Church. He would go from being Catholic to non-Catholic and hence no longer a member of the Church. This would occur without any intervention of the Church authorities. Now assuming purely for the sake of argument that Jorge Bergoglio was legitimately and validly elected to the pontificate in 2013 and that a valid pope could fall into public manifest formal heresy, his public manifest formal heresy would by itself cause him to go from Catholic to non-Catholic. Being no longer a member of the Church, he could not be its head. Yet, Bishop Schneider claims that a heretical pope would remain pope, and in holding such a claim he indirectly opposes the Magisterium of Pope Pius XII.
Saint Paul’s recommendations for the ministers of GOD from
2 Timothy Chapter 4 [Douay Rheims BIBLE]-
2 Preach the word, be instant in season, out of season, reprove, entreat, rebuke with all patience and doctrine.
3 For there shall be a time when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires they will heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears:
4 And will turn away indeed their hearing from the truth but will be turned to fables.
5 But be thou vigilant, labour in all things, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill thy ministry. Be sober.
6 For I am even now ready to be sacrificed: and the time of my dissolution is at hand.
7 I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith.
Bishop Athanasius Schneider and Father Hewko and Catacombs and others claim that-
“Even in the case of a heretical pope he will not lose his office automatically and there is no body within the Church to declare him deposed because of heresy.”
All those who are teaching this falsely are opposing THE TRUTH that ANTIPOPE bergoglio is NOT THE POPE, and they are also in opposition to so many others including this small sample as follows –
“For not every sin, however grave it may be, is such as of its own nature to sever a man from the Body of the Church, as does schism or heresy or apostasy.” -Pope Pius XII
“The Rock has always withstood the test of time. But one will be entered into the House of God. Woe to man when he places him upon the See of Peter for then, the Great Day of the Lord is at hand.” -Pope St. Pius X
St. Alphonsus Liguori: “The devil has always attempted, by means of the heretics, to deprive the world of the Mass, making them precursors of the Anti-Christ, who, before anything else, will try to abolish and will actually abolish the Holy Sacrament of the altar, as a punishment for the sins of men, according to the prediction of Daniel: ‘And strength was given him against the continual sacrifice’ (Dan. 8:12).”
WE KNOW the many warnings foretold and given to us by the BLESSED VIRGIN MARY at Fatima, LaSalette, and many other apparitions accordingly. We await the foretold TRIUMPH of THE IMMACULATE HEART of MARY and a period of the GLORIOUS RESTORATION of the ONE, HOLY, CATHOLIC, and APOSTOLIC CATHOLIC CHURCH of JESUS CHRIST throughout the world.
MARY’S WORDS remind us to steadfastly persevere in the TRUTH during these times of betrayal by the enemy ANTIPOPE bergoglio, the invalid hierarchy establishment, and those witting and unwitting globalist accomplices as SHE reveals the role for the Catholic faithful in HER TRIUMPH-
“One day, through the Rosary and the Scapular, I will save the world.”
-The Blessed Virgin Mary to St. Dominic
That their position opposes the Magisterium is a bigger concern to me. If their position did agree with the Magisterium and they still considered Jorge Bergoglio pope, at least it would simply be (which is bad enough) a failure to properly apply the doctrine.