Tradicat

 + JMJ I think that the biggest challenge in assessing the Sedevacantist Thesis is perspective. A good bit of perspective is provided by Unam Sanctam Catholicam (USC) in an article published in October 2022. The basic thesis is that becuase of Cum Ex Apostolatus, a bull issued by Pope Paul IV in 1559, "a heretic cannot be elected as Pope." I have a lot of issues with the thesis. The first of which is 'how do you know that a person is a heretic in the formal sense?'  My general thought is that either the person in question tells you or the Church tells you.   Is the 'heresy' clearly against a De Fide Truth of the Catholic Church? This is really important.  Let's take 'Extra Ecclesiam Nulla Salus' - outside the Church there is no salvation. However, Popes have said that protestants can be saved. The solution to this conundrum is that both statements are true if one understands what the Church has taught in regard to both statements.  So - not all sta...

  + JMJ Who’s in Charge? During this crisis of the Catholic Church, I know people who have been scandalized to the point where they ask “Who’s in charge of the Church, but it sure isn’t Pope so-and-so.” The goal of this article is to provide an solid answer by looking at Church Dogma and Doctine. N.B. I wrote the majority of this article before – and it turns out even during – Pope Franci’s last agony. So while Pope Francis no longer holds the office of the Vicar of Christ and the See of Peter is truly vacant, the interregnum will be of short duration – inspite of the Sede-Vacantists who claim that the Interregnum has lasted decades or even over a hundred years. Introduction So, who's In Charge? Ultimately God is in Charge and the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity is the Head of the Catholic Church. The Catholic Church has a Visible Head on Earth and that person is the Pope. Pope Francis's papacy has been a seminal moment for the Catholic Church and the S...

  + JMJ Conclusion Now putting Doctrine together with the Dogma what can we conclude? The Catholic Church has a history of Great, Good, Bad and Awful Popes. That the unworthy and mediocre outnumber the Great is without question ... and in itself a proof of the Divine Origin of the Catholic Church. Inspite of all that has occurred in the last hundred years, the Catholic Dogma's still stand the same as do the doctrines. There has been discipline that has been bent into ambiguous shapes - such as the Novus Ordo Missae, the Creed etc. Yet ambiguity is not Heresy in the true sense of the word. What we know from Church Teaching: The Catholic Church remains the institution of salvation. There will always be a Vicar of Christ We know we can identify the Catholic Church by Her Four Marks ( Series - Marks of the Church ) We know where the four marks exist We know that the Pope is part of the mark of Oneness ie. unity The Church "Teaching" - mea...

  + JMJ Church Teaching on the Papacy and Church Dogmas The following excerpts summarize what I think are the key teachings of the Church for these times concerning the papacy and the Church. As noted above a Dogma is something that must be believed by all Catholics. To deny a Dogma, like that of the Assumption, is to commit the sin of heresy. Papacy Christ founded the Church in order to continue His work of redemption for all time (DeFide) Ott p274 Christ gave His Church an hierarchical constitution (DeFide) Ott p276 The Powers bestowed on the Apostles have descended to the bishops (DeFide) Ott p278 Christ appointed the Apostle Peter to be the first of all the Apostles and to be the visible Head of the whole Church, by appointing him immediately and personally to the primary of jurisdiction (DeFide) Ott p279 According to Christ's ordinance, Peter is to have successors in his Primacy over the whole Church and for all time (DeFide) Ott p282 It ...

  + JMJ Grades of Theological Uncertainty and Censures I have pulled together two different sections of Ott’s explanation on Grades of uncertainty and the corresponding censures. Only they don’t quite match up – so I’ve done my best to sync them up. Degree and Censure De fide definita, fides divina and fides catholica The highest degree of certainty appertains to the immediately revealed truths. The belief due to them is based on the authority of God Revealing (fides divina), and if the Church, through its teaching, vouches for the fact that a truth is contained in Revelation, one's certainty is then also based on the authority of the Infallible Teaching Authority of the Church (fides catholica). If Truths are defined by a solemn judgment of faith (definition) of the Pope or of a General Council, they are "de fide definita." The highest degree of certainty applies to dogmas, for instance the Blessed Trinity or the two natures of Christ. Dogmas are truths ...

  + JMJ Who’s in Charge? During this crisis of the Catholic Church, I know people who have been scandalized to the point where they ask “Who’s in charge of the Church, but it sure isn’t Pope so-and-so.” The goal of this article is to provide an solid answer by looking at Church Dogma and Doctine. N.B. I wrote the majority of this article before – and it turns out even during – Pope Francis’ last agony. So while Pope Francis no longer holds the office of the Vicar of Christ and the See of Peter is truly vacant, the interregnum will be of short duration – inspite of the Sede-Vacantists who claim that the Interregnum has lasted decades or even over a hundred years. Introduction So, who's In Charge? Ultimately God is in Charge and the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity is the Head of the Catholic Church. The Catholic Church has a Visible Head on Earth and that person is the Pope. Pope Francis's papacy has been a seminal moment for the Catholic Church and the S...

 + JMJ   Gary Todd from Xinzheng, China, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons  I move through a number of different Catholic 'circles'. Conservative Modern Catholic, Diocesan Latin Mass, and SSPX Traditional Catholic, The sedevacantist issue has popped up once in a while in my 40+ years as a Traditional Catholic. Pope Francis has, in some ways, become a unifying point. I've had to talk some Modern Catholics off the Sedevacantist ledge because Pope St. John Paul II was the only thread of Catholicism that they knew. So here's my off the top of my head points vs sedevacantism: When one stands on the judgment that a current Pope isn't the Vicar of Christ, then what is to stop someone else from making the same judgment on previous Pontiffs?   I know a person who started down that path with Pope B16, and found that Pope JP2 also didn't pass muster. Next fell Pope P12, B15 and so on down the line.   So where does it stop?  Well with the people I know, la...