Heresy – The Heart of Sedevacantism - True or False Pope

JMJ

I have been asked to contribute some articles to the http://www.trueorfalsepope.com/.

Reproduced below is my first article that I wrote discussing the core issue behind the sedevacantist theory: Heresy.

I have to admit that I have not yet had to opportunity to read the book, but rest assured I will once it appears on the shelves of my chapel's bookstore!

My article appears with others under the Sedevacantist Watch link.

P^3

Heresy – The Heart of Sedevacantism

Heresy is the heart which pumps life into all sedevacantist theories. Without a Pope that has either lost or never held the office of the Vicar of Christ the entire sedevacantist structure crumbles to dust.

This makes understanding what the Church means by the word heresy key to evaluating the arguments and opinions proferred by sedevacantists.

The Church has summarized its teaching concerning heresy in canon law, according to which heresy is:

... an error in judgement in consequence of which a baptized person obstinately denies or doubts a truth revealed by God and proposed by the Church for belief. (Canon 1325 1917)
... the obstinate denial or obstinate doubt after the reception of baptism of some truth which is to be believed by divine and Catholic faith;... (Canon 751 1982)

The critical elements that constitute heresy are summarized in the illustration below. If any of these elements are missing, then the accusation of heresy evaporates.

Illustration 1: Critical Elements of Heresy

Criteria #1: The person must be baptized. It is normally a foregone conclusion that Priests, Bishops, Cardinals and Popes have been baptized.

Criteria #2: The person must either doubt or deny a teaching of the Church. To be acted upon, this doubt or denial must have been done externally.

Criteria #3: The teaching of the Church must be a Dogma of the Catholic Church. Meaning that it is a teaching that Catholics must believe with Divine Faith as having been revealed by God. In short, no dogma, no heresy.

Criteria #4: The final criteria is that, in the face of correction by Church authorities, the person must be obstinate in their doubt / denial.

These criteria form the basis for examining most agruments put forward by Sedevacantists.

In my next article, I'll discuss the Sedevacantism Kill Chain.

Tradical

Comments

News Roundup: October 19, 2026

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+ JMJ Recently, the St. Gertrude prayer was recommended to me and given my devotion to the Holy Souls in Purgatory, I thought it a good inclusion in the morning prayers and post it here for as a reminder for November - the Month of the Holy Souls. P^3 Courtesy of SSPX.org “Forget not the dead and hasten to pray for them!” - such is the Church's recommendation, beautifully summarized by St. Augustine. In Purgatory until the End of the World Our Lady Herself referred to Purgatory when, at the first Fatima apparition in May 1917, she was asked by Lucia about the souls of two young village girls who had recently died. The Virgin answered that the first one, Maria das Nevas, who died when about 16 years of age, was in Heaven. But of Amelia, a young lady of 18 years at her death, "will be in purgatory until the end of the world.” The disclosure about Amelia’s prolonged period of expiation never fails to shock and trouble. We are so easily misled to believe that Heaven is our natura...

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+ JMJ People seem to be mesmerised by train wrecks. They just can't turn away as the disaster creeps forward along train tracks towards the crossing where a car, truck, bus, trailer awaits its destruction. Trads have been watching the train wreck that is this crisis of the Catholic Church for decades. The trade war between the Canada and the US has reminded me that the news is addictive. The first time I was addicted what from 2009 to 2014 when I was closely following the Rome / SSPX discussions. I was at work watching a live-stream as Bishop Fellay disappeared into the Vatican. The lead-up to this moment had been intense as the 'resistance' got freaked out and the cultural cracks between doctrine and conspiracy theory widened. In the decade since then other things have emerged, wars, rumours of wars, conspiracies, celebrity Catholics etc. Now we have a new addiction and its name is Trump. Lately, no matter how much I try, I find myself wonderin...

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