Tradicat

I was at a meeting of Catholic men a few weeks ago. I was the only 'Traditional' Catholic present and yes they are aware of my position. One of the gentlemen espoused the view that the Pope cannot teach error in an encyclical. Knowing that, strictly speaking, the Pope does not automatically invoke the power of infallibility when he lifts his pen to write a letter, I entered into an argument. I argued from the point of Vatican I's declaration on infallibility, but he remained unconvinced. Later, I did a search and found an article by Msgr. Fenton (see below) the outlines much about the authority of encyclical letters. A brief summary is that it is possible, but unlikely, for encyclical letters to contain error. Source

The new Angelus Blog has a good article on the situation of the SSPX vis-a-vis statements made by Cardinal Koch. For my benefit as much as anyone else's, I've reproduced it here. Source

While somewhat out of scope for this blog, the Remnant has just published a good article (see below) that provides some details of Church teaching concerning when a person is a 'manifest' heretic. This is something that I have been pondering for a while: At what point do you know that a Catholic has lapsed into heresy? Answer: Either when they explicitly and directly deny a truth of the faith, or when the Church declares them (after admonitions) to be heretics.

In Radio Frequency (RF) terms, the noise floor has been significantly elevated since the election of Pope Francis. The effect of this increase in the noise floor is that it obscures the real signal, making it hard (in the case of communications) to understand the message. In short, the continual din from the various media (Internet etc),  I have found disorienting. There are so many groups claiming Pope Francis as their own, so much noise, that forming a correct understanding of Pope Francis' nascent Pontificate is difficult.

I came cross an interesting article and thought it was worth sharing in these times of conflict within the Church. In all this conflict, when we are tempted to seek vengeance instead of the Glory of God, we must remember that we need to  follow Catholic principles  for our own sake and not for our 'enemies'. We fight by Catholic principles to keep our Catholicity and our Faith.

... on how to solve the crisis of the Church - what would I say? Abolish communion in the hand Reaffirm The Dogma Extra Ecclesiam Nulla Salus  as the Church understands it ( Letter to Archbishop Cushing ) Mystici Corporis Humani Generis Regularize the FSSPX Abolish the Novus Ordo Missae Consecrate Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary Call V3  Use Schemas that were unused from V1 Use Schemas that were discarded from V2 Clarify / Correct docs from V2 These are thoughts that came to me as I lay awake a couple of nights ago thinking about what little I know about this new Pope. Of course, I know the probability of this plan being undertaken is very very small. Of course, the route that God uses will be much more effective as I only see with mortal eyes. Prayer Penance  Patience P^3

There has been a fair amount of virtual turmoil within the SSPX in the last year and three articles that were published to provide some clarity to the situation stand out. The first is a conference given by Bishop de Galarreta (SSPX) gives a good background. The second and third I would classify as responses to the accusations of former members of the SSPX. These accusations typically contain a significant amount of what in marketing is called FUD (Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt) as well as half truths, innuedoes, and having read the articles - error - in the theological sense. I'm posting these articles for my own benefit as well as that of anyone that passes this way. Tradical