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JMJ
This is my second article for True or False Pope. In my design career jumping to a conclusion has bitten me a number of times. This is why one of the key elements in project management and design engineering is listing your assumptions. The project plan then needs to incorporate a way to validate those assumptions before it is too late.
Sedevacantists have made this same mistake time and time again. They are scandalized (rightly so!) be all the shenanigans of the Popes, assume that this can't be so, and jump to the conclusion that the current reigning Pontiff cannot possibly be the Vicar of Christ.
If the sedevacantists accept the doctrine of the Church, then following the doctrine of dogmatic facts they would have to admit that we haven't had a sedevacante since the death of Pius XII (or whatever Pope they hold to be last validly elected).
I hope this article helps!
Keep the Faith!
P^3
Sedevacantism Kill Chain
A kill chain lists the
critical links of an attack; if any 'link' in the chain is broken,
the attack fails.
The kill chain for
'sedevacantism' is no different as it describes a chain of events
(causes) that must have occurred
in order to rationally and objectively conclude that a specific Pope
was either invalidly elected or has been deprived of the office of
the Vicar of Christ (effect).
Without an unbroken chain of causes, the conclusion of Sede Vacante
is dangerous speculation.
Illustration
1: Sedevacantism Kill Chain
One
common sedevacantist fallacy is to ignore the Kill Chain completely
by placing the effect before the cause. Typically it manifests itself
as a strong belief concerning the documents of the Second Vatican
Council as being formally heretical. Therefore the sedevacantist
concludes that the Popes who convened / closed the Council (John
XXIII, Paul VI), and accepted it (John Paul I, John Paul II, Benedict
XVI, Francis) could not possibly be valid Vicars of Christ. When they
encounter a Church Doctrine that contradicts their belief, they
re-imagine it to suit their belief instead of submitting to Church
Doctrine and admitting that their understanding is flawed.
The
doctrine that the sedevacantists re-imagine is the doctrine of
Dogmatic Facts.
According to Dr. Ludwig Ott, dogmatic facts are
historical facts, that while not revealed are “intrinsically
connected with revealed truth, for example the legality of a Pope or
a General Council”. In short, there is no confusion about the
legitimacy of a the election of a specific Vicar of Christ as the
Church has provided us with an infallible means of “knowing”who
was validly elected.
The following diagram outlines four
commentaries on the manner of how the infallible dogmatic fact of the
legitimacy of a Pontiff's election is established.
Following the reasoning of Hunter and Van
Noort, all that is required is to establish infallibly that a Pope's
election was valid was the acceptance by the Bishops in union with
Rome. Van Noort's explanation is further linked to the Ordinary and
Universal Magisterium, which is likewise infallible.
St. Alphonsus and Billot include with the
acceptance of the Bishops (Ecclesia Docens) that of the other
members of the Church, presumably including the laity (Ecclesia
Discens).
The sedevacantists that I have debated ignore
Hunter, Van Noort and St. Alphonsus and exclude portions of Billot's
thesis by focusing on the section highlighted in Green. The claim
made is that no Catholics hold the post conciliar Popes as 'rules of
faith' therefore they aren't Pope.
One thing is certain, that there was no
question of the legitimacy of the election of Pope John XXIII and
Paul VI at the time of their election. They were accepted completely
by even those who would later assert that the See of Peter was
vacant.
With respect to the successors of Pope Paul VI,
we can also have equal certainty as firstly all subsequent Pontiffs
have been universally accepted by the Bishops of the Catholic Church
(Hunter and Van Noort). We can also have moral certainty following
St. Alphonsus and Billot as there existed a morally unanimous
acceptance of the successors of Pope Paul VI as validly elected Popes
by the Faithful as well as the Bishops.
In the name of intellectual honest,
sedevacantists need to either accept or reject the Doctrine of
Dogmatic Facts instead of re-imagining it to suit their beliefs.
Otherwise, they are simply imitating the modernists whom they profess
to expose.
P3
Tradical
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