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

A Look Back: A short history of the SSPX

+ JMJ I started a timeline a while back but never finished it. Fortunately, here's one that brings us up to 1994!!! P^3 http://archives.sspx.org/SSPX_FAQs/a_short_history_of_the_sspx-part-1.htm A short history of the SSPX A presentation given by Fr. Ramon Angles in Kansas City, MO, on the 25th Anniversary of the founding of the SSPX and reprinted from the January 1996 issue of The Angelus . Part 1 The history of the Society of St. Pius X begins, of course, in the mind of God. But do not believe that its temporal origin is to be found solely at the time of the post-conciliar crisis. The Society of St. Pius X was made possible ...

Hermeneutic of the Hermeneutic of Continuity - sspx.org

+ JMJ Since I'm looking at the 'four things', I thought this article would be good. Unfortunately, with the new SSPX.org website, I've been unable to locate the original article. This is a copy the I emailed to myself. This is an article that, I believe, was written in response to a conference given by Msgr. Pozzo. P^3

SSPX and the Resistance - A Comparison Of Ecclesiology

Shining the light of Church Teaching on the doctrinal positions of the SSPX and the Resistance. Principles are guides used to aid in decision making. It stands to reason that bad principles will lead to bad decisions. The recent interactions between Rome and the SSPX has challenged a number of closely held cultural assumptions of people in both sides of the disagreement. This has resulted in cultural skirmishes in both Rome and the SSPX. Since it is the smaller of the two, the skirmishes have been more evident within the SSPX. The cultural fault-line that Bishop Fellay crossed appears to be linked to two points of Catholic Doctrine: Ecclesiology and Obedience. The cultural difference of view points is strong enough that it has resulted in the expulsion of a number of members. It should also be noted that some other priests expelled since the beginning of the latest interactions (starting in 2000) held the same view points and have joined with the l...

Morning and Evening and other sundry Prayers

+ JMJ Along the theme of P^3 (Prayer, Penance, Patience), and for my own reference ... here is a collection of Morning and Evening prayers from the Ideal Daily Missal along with some additional prayers. In this crisis of the Church, I do not think it is possible to do too much prayer, penance and have patience. P^3

Dogmas of the Catholic Faith (de fide) - Expanded Listing: Answer for Reader

+ JMJ A reader asked the following question in the 2015 version of the article on the Dogmas of the Catholic Faith (link) : 117: "In the state of fallen nature it is morally impossible for man without Supernatural Revelation, to know easily, with absolute certainty and without admixture of error, all religious and moral truths of the natural order." Where can you find this in the documents of the Church? ( Link to comment ) Here's the reference from Ott: The citation that Ott provided was Denzinger 1786 and the source document is Dogmatic Consitution Concerning the Faith from the First Vatican Council (Papal Encyclicals - link) : Chapter 2 On Revelation, Article 3: It is indeed thanks to this divine revelation , that those matters concerning God, which are not of themselves beyond the scope of human reason, can, even in the present state of the human race, be known by everyone, without difficulty, with firm certitude and with no intermingling of error. Here's ...

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