Defending The Indefensible

  Leave it to the "recognize and resistors" (R&R) of the Society of St. Pius X (SSPX) to try and exculpate "Pope" Francis of heresy by inventing new theological principles. In Amoris Laetitia, Frankie's "Apostolic Exhortation" on the "Joy of Love," he opens the door to "communion" for open and notorious adulterers (i.e., those divorced and "remarried"). It was so bad, even four of his "cardinals" sent him five dubia (i.e., "doubts" or queries) regarding its orthodoxy (or rather, the lack thereof). Frankie has not responded. When the Modernists start to question your orthodoxy, there are no words to adequately express the situation.

 According to the Catholic (sic) News Service, "The first dubium asks whether following Amoris laetitia “it has now become possible to grant absolution in the sacrament of penance and thus to admit to Holy Communion a person who, while bound by a valid marital bond, lives together with a different person 'more uxorio' (in a marital way) without fulfilling the conditions provided for by Familiaris consortio n. 84 and subsequently reaffirmed by Reconciliatio et Paenitentia n. 34 and Sacramentum Caritatis n. 29. Can the expression “in certain cases” found in note 351 (n. 305) of the exhortation Amoris laetitia be applied to divorced persons who are in a new union and who continue to live 'more uxorio'?" 

In a series of articles called "The Question of Papal Heresy," SSPX priest Fr. Jean-Michel Gleize, attempts to exonerate Frankie on this (and the other four dubia) with the following:
First, are the five truths demolished by these five doubts so many dogmas? Secondly, does Amoris laetitia negate these dogmas, or at least call them into question formally and explicitly enough? The answer to these two questions is far from obvious and certain. For this new theology of Francis, which extends that of Vatican II, avoids this sort of formal opposition with regard to truths already proposed infallibly by the Magisterium before Vatican II. It sins most often by omission or by ambivalence. It is therefore dubious, in its very substance. And it is dubious exactly insofar as it is modernist, or more precisely: neo-modernist.

His contention is that in order to be a formal heretic, Frankie has to negate one or more dogmas and/or call them into question formally and explicitly enough. Let's cut to the chase, what does the Church have to say?

The Church and Loss of Papal Authority

As St. Alphonsus Liguori, the great Doctor of the Church teaches:  "If ever a pope, as a private person, should fall into heresy, he would at once fall from the pontificate." (See Verita della Fede, Pt. III, Ch. VIII, 9-10). However, at this point, we can ask "Could Jorge Bergoglio ever even attain the papacy in the first place? Accoring to canonist Wernz-Vidal, "Those capable of being validly elected are all who are not prohibited by divine law or by an invalidating ecclesiastical law… Those who are barred as incapable of being validly elected are all women, children who have not reached the age of reason; also, those afflicted with habitual insanity, the unbaptized, heretics, schismatics…"(Jus Canonicum 1:415; Emphasis mine). Again according to Badius, "c) The law now in force for the election of the Roman Pontiff is reduced to these points… Barred as incapable of being validly elected are all women, children who have not reached the age of reason; also, those afflicted with habitual insanity, the unbaptized, heretics and schismatics…" (Institutiones, 160)

Divine Law prohibits heretics from attaining to the papacy. Was Bergoglio a heretic prior to his alleged "election" four years ago? First, we need to define heresy.  Heresy is defined as "A teaching which is directly contradictory to a truth revealed by God and proposed to the faithful as such by the Church." (See theologian Parente, Dictionary of Dogmatic Theology, Bruce Publishing Company, [1951], pg. 123). Let's see what Begoglio did as "bishop" and "cardinal." 

Juan Pablo Bongarrá, president of the Argentine Bible Society, recounts that Bergoglio not only met with Evangelicals, and prayed with them—but he also asked them to pray for him. Bongarrá notes that Bergoglio would frequently end a conversation with the request, "Pastor, pray for me."

Additionally, Bongarrá tells the story of a weekly worship meeting of charismatic pastors in Buenos Aires, which Bergoglio attended: "He mounted the platform and called for pastors to pray for him. He knelt in front of nearly 6,000 people, and [the Protestant leaders there] laid hands and prayed."

Religious leaders in Buenos Aires have stated that it was Bergoglio who "opened up the Cathedral in Buenos Aires for interfaith ceremonies". For example, in November 2012 he brought "leaders of the Jewish, Muslim, evangelical, and other Christian faiths" together in the Cathedral to pray for peace in the Middle East. Leaders quoted in a 2013 Associated Press article said that Bergoglio has a "very deep capacity for dialogue with other religions", and considers "healing divisions between religions a major part of the Catholic Church's mission". (See http://www.religionfacts.com/pope-francis).  In addition, Bergoglio celebrated Hanukkah with the Jews in 2012.

According to theologians McHugh and Callan, "It is unlawful for Catholics in anyway to assist actively at or take part in the worship of non-Catholics (Canon 1258)." (See Moral Theology, 1: 376).  Canonists Abbo and Hannon explain the meaning of the Canon, "Thus is forbidden what is technically known as communicatio in sacris. The reason for this prohibition are founded in the natural and divine positive law. Among them is the following: the Catholic Church is the only Church in which, by divine ordinance, worship may be rendered to God..." (See The Sacred Canons, 2: 512).

 For this reason the Holy Office said that by participating [in schismatic and heretical worship], Catholics give exterior signs of segregation from and disapproval of the Catholic Church  by unifying themselves with those who disapprove or segregate themselves from the Catholic Church, since participation in liturgical actions constitutes a sign of unity.  By coming together with them in unity of prayer, in unity of cult, in unity of veneration and worship, one does so with perverse schismatic and heretical ministers.  In effect, the Holy Office was saying that it is by the very coming together with those who reject the Faith and joining one's prayer and worship to them that one is participating in worship which is done by those who reject the Catholic Church.  To participate with those who reject the faith is therefore forbidden. (See Collectanea S. Congregationis de Propaganda Fidei seu Decreta Instructiones Rescripta pro Apostolicis Missionibus (Ex Typographia Polyglotta, Roma, 1907); Emphasis mine).

How is heresy made manifest? According to theologian MacKenzie, "Words are the ordinary, but not the only means of communication. Complete externalization of thought may exist in signs, acts, or omissions." (The Delict of Heresy in its Commission, Penalization, Absolution, pg.35).

Bergoglio could never even attain to the office, let alone fall from it! This explains how he can say, "There is no Catholic God," "Proselytism is nonsense," etc. As a matter of fact, "Cardinal" Bergoglio co-authored a book with Rabbi Abraham Skorka entitled On Heaven and Earth. It's loaded with error and heresy.

1. Atheists don't need conversion and need not be condemned. On pgs. 12-13:  "I do not approach the relationship in order to proselytize, or convert the atheist; I respect him and I show myself as I am…nor would I say that his life is condemned, because I am convinced that I do not have the right to make a judgement about the honesty of that person; even less, if he shows me those human virtues that exalt others and do me good." (Emphasis mine)

The First Vatican Council infallibly declared: "If anyone shall say that the One True God, our Creator and Lord, cannot be certainly known by the natural light of human reason through created things; let him be anathema."

2. Agnosticism as to the nature of God. On pg. 14, "We can say what God is not, we can speak of His attributes, but we cannot say what He is.” Isn't God a Trinity? Isn't He all-Perfect?

3. Denial of Church teaching on suicide. On Pg. 93, "There was a time when they did not perform funerals for those that committed suicide because they had not continued toward the goal; they ended the path when they wanted to. But I still respect the one who commits suicide; he is a person who could not overcome the contradictions in his life." (Emphasis mine) You respect someone who was either (a) mentally unbalanced and needed help, or (b) committed the act of ultimate despair? According to theologian Prummer, "The direct killing of oneself on one's own authority is a most grievous sin against divine, natural, and ecclesiastical law." (Moral Theology, section 275).

Of course, the SSPX ends with the tired, worn out quotes from theologians Suarez and Cajetan to support the idea that a pope does not lose his office until the Church somehow issues a judgement. They disregard their minority status, and the fact that the theological developments since their time have relegated this opinion to the status of untenable. However, even more than this--they miss the point. It's irrelevant because Bergoglio was a heretic prior to his election, so he could not become the pope in the first place (ditto for every "successor" to Montini, "Pope" Paul VI). There is even papal legislation on this point. Pope Paul IV issued the Apostolic Bull Cum ex Apostolatus Officio. The pontiff decreed that if  it should ever appear that someone who was elected Roman Pontiff had beforehand "deviated from the Catholic faith or fallen into any heresy," his election, even with the agreement and unanimous consent of all the cardinals, would be "null, legally invalid and void."

But What About Amoris Laetitia in Particular?

 Even if Bergoglio could have become the pope, does his teaching on "pastoral solutions" for adulterers getting the Novus Bogus "communion" constitute heresy? In a word, yes. Let's go by Fr. Gleize's criterion. 

(a) What dogmas are called into doubt or negated? There are two; the indissolubility of marriage and the necessity of sanctifying grace to receive Communion. According to theologian Ott, "From the sacramental contract of marriage emerges the Bond of Marriage, which binds both marriage partners to a lifelong indivisible community of life. (De Fide)." Also, "For the worthy reception of the Eucharist the state of grace...[is] necessary. (De Fide)." (See Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma, pgs. 399, and 467). 

Giving "communion" to an open and notorious adulterer denies either the sin of adultery or the necessity of sanctifying grace in order to worthily receive the Eucharist. For Bergoglio to even consider such an abomination calls both dogmas into question. 

(b) The invented principle of calling dogma into question "formally and explicitly enough." Let's give Frankie a pass and say his exhortation was only "ambiguous." That's enough to condemn him.   The Apostolic Constitution of Pope Pius VI, Auctorum Fidei (1794), teaches, "Moreover, if all this is sinful, it cannot be excused in the way that one sees it being done, under the erroneous pretext that the seemingly shocking affirmations in one place are further developed along orthodox lines in other places, and even in yet other places corrected; as if allowing for the possibility of either affirming or denying the statement, or of leaving it up the personal inclinations of the individual – such has always been the fraudulent and daring method used by innovators to establish error. It allows for both the possibility of promoting error and of excusing it...Whenever it becomes necessary to expose statements that disguise some suspected error or danger under the veil of ambiguity, one must denounce the perverse meaning under which the error opposed to Catholic truth is camouflaged." 

Pope Pius XI, Mortalium Animos, January 6, 1928:


"The teaching authority of the Church in the divine wisdom was constituted on Earth in order that the revealed doctrines might remain forever in tact and might be brought with ease and security to the knowledge of men." (Emphasis mine)

Summary and Conclusion

• Bergoglio is too Modernist for even some Modernists. He wants to give "communion" to adulterers. Some of his own so-called cardinals have asked him to clarify his Apostolic Exhortation.

• The SSPX tries to exonerate Bergoglio from heresy.

• The Church teaches that heretics cannot even attain the office of pope, and Bergoglio's ecumenism was heretical. He prays in public with heretics and Jews, the latter is a de facto denial of the Divinity of Christ. He wrote a book with a rabbi when he was a "cardinal." It is riddled with heresy and error.

• Even if Bergoglio were pope, heretics fall from office by Divine Law, and his teaching in Amoris Laetitia alone qualifies as heresy because it calls into question the indissolubility of sacramental marriage and the necessity of sanctifying grace for the worthy reception of Holy Communion. 

• The Church does not teach ambiguously. If She did, the Church would cease to be a teaching authority in any meaningful sense. 

• Interestingly, the SSPX calls Amoris Laetitia "dubious in its substance" and "Neo-Modernist." Yet this does not qualify Bergoglio as a heretic and false pope because it is not "formal and explicit enough"? What a joke. Bottom line: The SSPX believes that a formal heretic, someone who is not a member of the Church, can be the Head of that Church. 

The dubia never cite to the teachings pre-Vatican II. Why would they? Their sect began in the 1960s. Yet Bergoglio makes John Paul the Great Apostate look orthodox in comparison. The SSPX tries to defend the indefensible. Even members of the Vatican II sect know the Church has always taught that marriage is indissoluble, that divorce and subsequent attempted remarriage is a sin, and that those living in the latter situation cannot receive the sacraments--end of story. Does the SSPX wish to forget that on Easter Monday of 2014, Frankie phoned an Argentine woman who had been refused communion by her parish "priest" for living in an invalid marriage? Mr. Bergoglio told her she could "safely receive Communion, because she is doing nothing wrong." What's ambiguous about that, SSPX? They blasphemously make the martyrdom of St. John Fisher and St. Thomas More a useless and needless act on their part.