Recognize and Resist, Sede-Picante, Bene-Vacantist... OH MY!!!

Have you ever had the thought that you are being played?

At long last, we can thank Pope Frantic- and the men behind his curtain- for giving the whole game away.  The Traditional Catholic Circular Firing Squad is in Hyperbolic Mode, with the various camps of Papal Recognition firing away at each other and all the while claiming they have THE ANSWER to the "Crisis in the Church".

But before commencing the Deep Dive, let us review the three faces of this controversy.  In one corner, we have the "recognize and resist" crowd.  Their position is based on the foundational doctrine of Vatican I: "If anyone says that it is not by the institution of Christ the Lord Himself (that is to say, by Divine Law) that Blessed Peter should have perpetual successors in the primacy over the whole Church; or that the Roman Pontiff is not the successor of Blessed Peter in this primacy, let him be anathema."  For good measure, they quote St Francis De Sales: "St. Peter has had successors, has them in these days, and will have them even to the end of the ages." Therefore, they conclude that the church, to be visible, must be visible, and always have a pope.  Therefore, even if the Pope is not Catholic, he must still be the pope.

In the Opposite Corner, we have the "Sedevacantists".  Their foundational doctrine is that a heretic cannot be a Catholic, and, by extension, not the Pope.  They cite several formidable sources, of which the following is but a sample.  "A Pope who is a manifest heretic automatically ceases to be a Pope and head, just as he ceases automatically to be a Christian and a member of the Church.” -St Robert Bellarmine. "In the case in which the Pope would become a heretic, he would find himself, by that very fact alone and without any other sentence, separated from the Church.   A head separated from a body cannot, as long as it remains separated, be head of the same body from which it was cut off.”   St  Antoninus [1459].  Lastly we have that very same St Francis De Sales: “Now when the Pope is explicitly a heretic, he falls ipso facto from his dignity and out of the Church …”  This has, obviously, been the constant teaching of Tradition.

So, what to do when Irresistible Force meets Immovable Object?  The Same Thing as when God, who can do all things, makes an object so big He cannot lift it.  Blame the limited capacity of the human intellect in the face of Divine Mysteries.

Of course, humanity often has trouble doing that.  Instead, they want to be "more Catholic than the pope", which is to say, legalistic, in the very manner condemned by St Paul.  They cite canon law ad nauseum, as thought canon law were in itself infallible and irreformable, just as liberals worship the civil law.  "Well, it's the Law", they proclaim solemnly, as if that settles any debate or contention.

Stephen Heiner, author of the blog True Restoration, goes so far as to excoriate any priest who is "una cum", that is, who mentions "Pope Francis" in the Roman Canon of the Traditional Mass, and any layman who would dare attend such a liturgy.

In a similar manner, the Editors of Quanta Cura Press pronounce Sedevacantism Material and Formal Schism, and cast all such into the Exterior Darkness.

So guys, could you adjourn your canonical proceedings for just a few minutes and listen to this Wolf howl, because he thinks that both of you are being played, and that at the expense of the fraternal charity we should all have as disciples of Our Lord Jesus Christ and (hopefully) Our Lady of Fatima.

Let us return to Vatican Council I, that Council that bequeathed upon the successors of St Peter as head of the Apostolic Church that Newfound Superpower of Infallibility. The council was, fortunately, to circumscribe that power within carefully defined limits- that of Apostolic Tradition.  We have here, then, a definition that is essentially circular.  How do we know the Pope is infallible?  Because he is declaring that what has always and everywhere been taught MUST continue to be so.  And if he defines something novel, then the pope, however solemn and emphatic might be his definition, is out of bounds.

Now, of COURSE the Church has a Pope, and, yes, he has a quite impressive and regal authority over the Universal Church, so long as he is acting properly within his jurisdiction, which prescribes the limits and bounds of that authority.  Unfortunately, the popes almost immediately grabbed upon the pronouncements of Vatican I to make inane statements such as this by Leo XIII in the Encyclical Sapientiae Christianae:  "But the supreme teacher in the Church is the Roman Pontiff.  Union of minds, therefore, requires, together with a perfect accord in the one faith, complete submission and obedience of will to the Church and to the Roman Pontiff, as to God Himself."

Leo XIII seems to have forgotten that the Supreme Teacher in the Church is the Holy Ghost.  Now, if the Pope is in accord with the Holy Ghost, as when he is promoting Sacred Tradition, then by all means, yes, we give him complete obedience and submission of the will.

This "Ultramontanism" reached its zenith with these words of Pius X:

"Therefore, when one loves the Pope, there is no room for discussions about what he ordains or demands, or how far obedience should go, or in what matters obedience is required.  When one loves the Pope, one does not say that he has not spoken clearly enough, as if he were obliged to repeat in each man's ear that will which has been expressed so many times, not only verbally but also in letters and other public documents.  One does not doubt his orders, using the easy pretext of those who do not wish to obey that it is not the Pope who commands, but those who surround him. One does not limit the scope in which he can and should exercise his authority.  One does not put the authority of other, albeit learned, individuals who dissent from the Pope ahead of the Pope's authority; individuals who, if they are learned, are not holy, because one who is holy cannot dissent from the Pope.
”This is the outpouring of a sorrowful heart, which I express with deep bitterness, not against you, beloved brethren, but together with you, to deplore the behavior of many priests, who not only allow themselves to discuss and scrutinize the Pope's wishes, but are not ashamed to arrive at impudent and brazen disobedience, causing great scandal to the righteous and much harm to souls."

Contemplate the most recent actions of Pope Frantic, reread those words, and try not to laugh, because this Wolf does find this whole testament of Pius X uproariously hilarious in that context, regardless of whether you think Frantic is Pope or not.

St Robert Bellermine hypothesized that the Pope could never be a heretic.  Well, if John XXIII, and Paul VI and JP2 really were popes, then St Robert was dead wrong.

Now, this Wolf has not, nor has he ever been, a "Classic Sedevacantist".  He has always regarded the above mentioned as valid popes, along with B16 (B17's and B29's were what bombed cities during WW2).  As of December 31st, 2022, he regards the Holy Seat as being vacant, along with the skull of the current "Bishop of Rome".

So, has it ever occurred to anybody why it was that, for the one thousand eight hundred and seventy years or so of history preceding Vatican I, Holy Mother Church has never been moved to discuss Papal Infallibility, let alone define it?  

Could the fact that the initiation of Pope Pius IX, then  Giovanni Ferretti Mastai, a native of the Pontifical States, into Freemasonry in the Lodge Eterna Catena of Palermo on 15th August 1839 have anything to do with it?

At any rate, this Wolf suspects that the plan was to empower the popes, wed popular devotion to the person of the popes, and then use Vatican II and the subsequent pronouncements of the popes to divide the good faithful.

And it succeeded beyond their wildest dreams.  If Protestantism merely attacked the church at its fringes, the last century or so has seen the church attacked at its very core.

And so, all you clans, unite, in fraternal charity, under the Mantle of Our Lady of Fatima, and Devotion to the Immaculate Heart, and let all else be humbly relegated to the realm of speculation while we await the Triumph of the Immaculate Heart and the restoration of the glories of our Holy Mother the Church.  By all means, follow your conscience, but do not impose it upon anybody else.

And, no, this Wolf is not being "Ecumenical".  He despises the idea that truth might participate with error.  By no means.  But wherein lies the Truth?

Pray Harder.

Our Lady of Fatima, Pray for us.  You are our only hope!