VACANTIS APOSTOLICAE SEDIS Vindicated

VACANTIS APOSTOLICAE SEDIS Vindicated

VACANTIS APOSTOLICAE SEDIS Vindicated

CONSTITUTIO APOSTOLICA 

VACANTIS APOSTOLICAE SEDIS*

DE SEDE APOSTOLICA VACANTE ET DE ROMANI PONTIFICIS ELECTIONE

(Heading under Pope Pius XII’s election Constitution at Vatican.va
demonstrating it is an apostolic constitution.

An apostolic constitution is a papal document that deals with serious doctrinal matters regarding the definition of dogma, changes in canon law or other ecclesiastical matters. Apostolic constitutions are issued as papal bulls because of their solemn, public form.

Points addressed

  1. The charge that there has been a false “interpretation” of Vacantis Apostolicae Sedis (VAS) is hereby refuted. The sense of this document is taken from the canonists approved by the Church, and from ancient Church documents cited in VAS itself.
  2. Only the cardinals were commissioned with the right to resolve any doubts regarding this constitution and it should go without saying that this cannot in any way devolve upon men claiming — against the clear, infallible directives of VAS itself — that they are clerics, in violation of this very law.
  3. The opinion advanced contrary to the prohibitions of VAS — that during an interregnum bishops constitute the Catholic Church without Her Supreme Head — can clearly be traced to the initial appearance of the Gallicanist heresy during the time of the Western Schism.
  4. VAS alone infallibly declares those “consecrated” during an interregnum without the papal mandate are incapable of exercising their orders, lacking the mandate.

Preamble to VAS

“Continually in the course of the centuries, Our Predecessors solemnly determined to order and define the procedures of governance of the vacant Apostolic See and the election of the Roman Pontiff, for which they were supposed to provide; and in the same manner they endeavored to apply themselves with watchful care and to devote their energies to useful rules in the weighty business divinely entrusted to the Church, to wit, electing the successor of Blessed Peter, Prince of the Apostles, who on this earth is the Vicar of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and as supreme Pastor and Head feeds and rules all the Lord’s flock.

“However, since there was already a desire to have collected into one place these laws about electing the Roman Pontiff, enlarged in number in preceding ages, and since some of them, less accommodated to special circumstances, had become outdated on account of changed conditions, the great man Pius X, our Predecessor, with judicious advice decided forty years ago to reduce them (appropriately selected) to a summary, having published the well-known Constitution Vacante Sede Apostolica on the twenty-fifth of December of the year 1904…

“Wherefore, having seasonably considered the matter, SURE OF THE KNOWLEDGE AND THE PLENITUDE OF OUR APOSTOLIC POWER, WE have undertaken to publish and promulgate this Constitution, which is the same as that given by Pius X, of holy memory, but reformed throughout, “which,” to use the words of the same Predecessor of Ours, “THE SACRED COLLEGE OF CARDINALS SHALL SOLELY USE during the vacancy of the Apostolic See and in electing the Roman Pontiff,” the Constitution Vacante Sede Apostolica, having therefore been abrogated, according as it had been brought forth by Our Predecessor Pius X. But let the chapters of Our Constitution at hand be considered as these that follow.

Comment: Confirmed as follows in The Catholic Encyclopedia Dictionary, 1941: “All previous legislation concerning the conclave was codified and renewed by Pius X’s bull, Vacante Sede Apostolica (Dec. 25, 1904). The bull of Pius X is rather a codification than a reform.” Pope St. Pius X, then, commenced the codification of Canon Law by beginning at the top with the codification of the laws governing papal election.

In the second paragraph of the preamble above, Pope Pius XII explains that the entire constitution of Pope St. Pius X was a codification of all papal election law. So when we read this constitution, we know that we are not just reading any papal document, but the most relevant and important elements of what the Church practiced throughout Her entire history in electing Christ’s vicars. Moreover, as noted above, this is a most solemn document, and one that is both infallible and doctrinal in nature as well as one that reforms the previous papal election law listed under Can. 160. This will be addressed below.

ON THE VACANT APOSTOLIC SEE CHAPTER I

Concerning the Power of the Sacred College of Cardinals while the Apostolic See is Vacant

  1. During the vacancy of the Apostolic See, regarding those things that pertained to the Sovereign Roman Pontiff while he lived, the Sacred College of Cardinals shall have absolutely no power or jurisdiction of rendering neither a favor nor justice or of carrying out a favor or justice rendered by the deceased Pontiff; rather, let the College be obliged to reserve all these things to the future Pontiff. (1) Therefore, We declare INVALID AND VOID any power or jurisdiction pertaining to the Roman Pontiff in his lifetime, which the assembly of Cardinals might decide to exercise (while the Church is without a Pope), except to the extent to which it be expressly permitted in this Our Constitution. (2)
  2. Likewise we command that the Sacred College of Cardinals shall not have the power to make a determination in any way it pleases concerning the laws of the Apostolic See and of the Roman Church, nor attempt in any way to subtract directly or indirectly from the rights of the same on the pretext of a relaxation of attention or by the concealment of actions perpetrated against these same rights even after the death of the Pontiff or in the period of the vacancy. On the contrary, We desire that the College ought to watch over and defend these rights during the contention of all influential forces.
  3. The laws issued by Roman Pontiffs in no way can be corrected or changed by the assembly of Cardinals of the Roman Church while it is without a Pope, nor can anything be subtracted from them or added or dispensed in any way whatsoever with respect to said laws or any part of them. This prohibition is especially applicable in the case of Pontifical Constitutions issued to regulate the business of the election of the Roman Pontiff. In truth, if anything adverse to this command should by chance happen to come about or be attempted, We declare it, by Our Supreme Authority, to be null and void. (3)
  4. Nevertheless, if any doubts should arise concerning the sense of the regulations that are contained in this Our Constitution, or even concerning the means according to which these things should be set forth in practice, or about any other chapter at all of this our Constitution, We ordain and declare that the power of imposing an authoritative decision about these things is only in the hands of the Sacred College of Cardinals, for which purpose We grant full faculty to the same Sacred College of Cardinals…

[1] Pii IV Const. In eligendis, VII Idus Oct. 1562, § 6; Clem. XII Const. Apostolatus officium, IV Non. Oct. 1732, § 6.
[2] Clem. V in Conc. Viennensi, cap. 2, Ne Romani in pr. de elect., I, 3 in Clem.
[3] Leonis XIII Const. Praedecessores Nostri, 24 Maii 1882.

The following interpretation of VAS is given below:

book page 650

(The above paragraph was excerpted from A Practical Commentary on the Code of Canon Law, Revs. Stanislaus Woywod and Callistus Smith, 1957; Appendix III commentary on VAS. This same statement can be found almost word for word in Revs. Bouscaren-Ellis’ Canon Law, A Text and Commentary under Can. 219)

Comments on paragraphs 1-4 above

Notice that Revs. Woywod-Smith state the following regarding VAS.

  • Even the Sacred College of Cardinals cannot exercise the jurisdiction enjoyed by the pope during his lifetime.
  • All acts of jurisdiction must be left to the future pope.
  • No corrections, changes or dispensations can be made regarding the rights and laws of the Church.
  • Only the cardinals are able to resolve any doubts (preamble and para. 4)

Pope Pius XII clearly states that should anyone even attempt to usurp papal jurisdiction, or to correct, change, add or dispense from any of the laws of the Church, such attempts or acts are null and void. This would include:

  1. acting without the papal mandate contrary to the Sacred Canons, which several documents throughout Church history, beginning with the Council of Trent and even before that time, dating to the 5th century, clearly show as reserved only to the Roman Pontiff;
  2. the establishment of seminaries, acceptance of those professing a vocation and any attempt at ordinations and
  3. presuming the existence of supplied jurisdiction to provide Mass and Sacraments, or claiming, as the Protestants do, that such jurisdiction is provided directly by Christ. Such jurisdiction can be supplied only by a reigning pontiff and has never been supplied in any other way.
  4. Only the cardinals are able to resolve any doubts regarding VAS.
  5. The violations of the Sacred Canons are too numerous to mention here.

This summary and explanation of Pius XII’s election law above was made by approved and seasoned canonists writing during Pope Pius XII’s reign. All papal election laws are promulgated to provide the maximum protection for the Church when She is at Her most vulnerable point — during the vacancy of the Holy See. VAS is also further validated by Pope Pius XII’s subsequent definition of the extent of episcopal powers, issued three years later in Mystici Corporis and Ad sinarum gentum. Pope Pius XII knew well the dangers the Church faced and not only his revision of VAS but his pronouncements in many other papal documents reflect this. But as will be demonstrated below, VAS does not stand alone; it is also based solidly on the practices of the Church throughout the ages.

Historical significance of VAS

A discussion of the history behind Pope Pius XII’s infallible teaching in the first three paragraphs (and other portions of the constitution that follow) is related by the historian Walter Ullmann in his work, The Origins of the Great Schism (1948). A little background should be given here before delving into the points brought out in this discussion and why they were relevant at the time. Historically, Gallicanism first reared its head as a heresy during the Western Schism in the teachings of several men condemned as heretics, among them Marsilius of Padua, John Jandun, John Hus and Wycliffe. The theologians Pierre d’Ailly and Jean Gerson, also Conrad Gelnhausen, supported the Gallicanist position, not formally condemned until the 1600s. So what exactly is Gallicanism?

 “The Gallican school held 1) that the Pope’s definitions were not infallible in themselves but only after acceptance by the Universal Church and 2) that a general council’s authority was above that of a Pope” (M.L. Cozens, in his 1928 A Handbook of Heresies).  To this should be added the errors of Febronianism, first advocated by the German bishop of Trier, Johann Nickolaus von Hontheim, (using the pseudonym Febronius), in 1763. Hontheim taught that Christ did not give “…the power of the keys to Peter but to the whole Church; that the pope’s power, as head of the whole Church… is of an administrative and unifying character, rather than a power of jurisdiction. “Hontheim advanced along the same lines, in spite of many inconsistencies, to a radicalism far outstripping traditional Gallicanism” (The Catholic Encyclopedia). It is Hontheim’s Febronian version of Gallicanism, foreshadowed by opinions advanced during the Western Schism, that prevails today.

Two lay canonists writing at the time of the Western Schism early on contended that Urban VI was the true pope. The names of these canonists were Baldus de Ubaldis and Joannes de Lignano. Ullmann calls Ubaldis one of the two “greatest jurists of the 14th century.” Lignano he styles as enjoying respect and “authority in ecclesiastical circles… His reputation was great.” Concerning their determinations, Ullmann relates what later became law under future popes: “Both jurists deal at length with the authority of the cardinals over the pope and both reach the conclusion that cardinals have no jurisdictional powers over the pope; they cannot be accusers, witnesses, and judges in one… all disputes concerning intentions, motives and will must be decided by a judge, but who should be the judge in this case? Certainly nobody else but a general council… [which could only be] lawfully summoned by… Urban VI… Baldus refers to a commentary of Clem. I.iii.2, which passage expressly lays down that during a vacancy the Sacred College cannot exercise papal jurisdiction, nor can the cardinals change the constitution of the Church,” and here Ullmann notes this is found in Pope Pius X’s Vacante Sedis Apostolica. This quotation is cited in the footnotes to Pope Pius XII’s constitution above. So clearly it is an ages-old teaching held by the Church.

The conciliarists (those believing a council able to dictate to the pope) taught that a council could be called by the people, because the congregation of all Christians is superior to the pope. Ubaldis and Lignano taught that Urban VI and his line was the true pope and must call the council, because no one is superior to the pope. This ultimately was the teaching followed to call the Council of Constance and end the schism. The conciliarists’ propositions presented at the council were never approved by the Apostolic See, being explicitly rejected by Pope Martin V. As mentioned above, the Gallicanist heresy was condemned in 1682 and The Catholic Encyclopedia article on Gallicanism states: “Stricken to death, as a free opinion, by the Council of the Vatican, Gallicanism could survive only as a heresy; the Old Catholics have endeavoured to keep it alive under this form.” This was certainly the intent of Henry Cardinal Manning, who lists in his reasons for calling the Vatican Council:

“Gallicanism is nationalism: that which the Gospel casts out; that which grew up again in medieval Christendom. It is the Christian Judaism which strove to elect its own High Priest; the national factions which rent the Sacred College; the nationalism which set up two or three uncanonical Popes, and two or three national obediences; the spirit of egotism, worldliness, and avarice, which caused whole nations of Europe to apostatise from the Divine will, from the unity of the Church, and to erect Lutheranism, Calvinism, and Anglicanism on the schismatical basis of national Churches… The Gallicanism of 1682 was a feeble imitation of the preamble of the 24th of Henry VIII, by which the schism of England was accomplished.” So basically Cardinal Manning believes that Gallicanism was the prelude to Protestantism, the beginning of the conspiracy to rob the pope of his Christ-given jurisdictional powers. And with the resurgence of Gallicanism in the last century, this is what they have done. Below we shall see how Traditionalists have revived this heresy by denying VAS.

Neo-Gallicanism

We will call this resurgence of Gallicanism in the 20th century neo-Gallicanism, because it does add new elements to the original heresy. These include the belief that:

  1. The existence of an interregnum can forever remain uncertain, as is pretended by those embracing the material/formal hypothesis.
  2. Formal heresy, existing pre-election but manifested only post-election, cannot be certainly determined and does not automatically depose one appearing to be pope from office.
  3. Pope Paul IV’s bull Cum ex Apostolatus Officio cannot be the old law governing these cases because it was abrogated by the 1917 Code of Canon Law.
  4. There is no strict obligation, in the case of an extended interregnum, for the laity to force the remaining cardinals/bishops to elect a pope once manifest heresy is ascertained.
  5. Despite infallible Church teaching, bishops alone can retain and continue the apostolic succession during an interregnum and can then rule the Church indefinitely, under the pretext of an emergency or “necessity.”
  6. That they can then claim supplied jurisdiction, which only a canonically elected pope can provide.

As stated many times on this site, if bishops such as Lefebvre, Castro de Meyer, (Mendez) and Thuc truly were Catholic and had the Church’s best interests at heart, they easily could have and should have convened an imperfect council called only to announce the deposition of the usurpers and elect a true pope, per the advice of St. Robert Bellarmine. That this was not the case tells us, or should, that they followed a hidden agenda and had no intention of perpetuating the papacy. Only those bishops consecrated under Pope Pius XII could validly have accomplished this. It was their sacred duty and obligation. They failed, and in truth they were not Catholic to begin with because almost immediately, they violated the only applicable laws that governed this situation — Pope Paul IV’s Cum ex…  and Pope Pius XII’s VAS.

In so doing they denied every papal election law the Church has abided by throughout Her long history, not just that of Pope Pius XII. They denied the very right of the Church to nullify and preclude any breach of papal jurisdiction and Her Sacred Canons. It was once again two lay persons who had to remind these men of their responsibilities. And they themselves made huge mistakes, although this writer’s only intention was to champion the papacy. To the best of my knowledge the only mention of Vacantis Apostolicae Sedis ever published was made in this author’s first work, Will the Catholic Church Survive…? in 1990. At that time only a rough translation of this document was available. A better translation was made in 2012. In 1990, I allowed others to convince me that despite the infallible nature of VAS, Pope Pius XII would never have wished his law to impede a papal election and it would be a mortal sin to do so. This would be true of an election by valid bishops and clergy (but not the laity). However, I was not advanced enough in my studies then to understand this. For Traditionalists had done their best to obscure the true nature of infallibility and the strict obedience owed to papal decrees.

The question is: why does complete silence on the part of Traditionalists shroud this election constitution? And why have they been allowed to deny the applicability of Cum ex… to the current situation? Proofs demonstrating that the bull was never abrogated have been available since the mid-1980s, and further corroborating proofs were available on this site in the early 2000’s. They have never been refuted yet have been consistently ignored. This easily proves the ill-will and lack of Catholicity on the part of all those concerned. These two combined documents, Cum ex… and VAS — related historically on at least two points — could possibly have resolved the situation if those wishing to rally the faithful had mobilized them in the 1970s, 1980s and pressured any remaining bishops to act. Had they explained their inability to provide Mass and Sacraments unless this was done, the faithful would have been strongly motivated to pursue this course. Instead Traditionalists suppressed both documents and proceeded to violate the teachings of the Church by flaunting VAS and setting up mass centers, ordaining priests and consecrating bishops. For this had been their plan all along — to establish a headless Church answerable to no one.

Lefebvre was a member of the scandalous French secret society, the Priory of Sion; when asked about it, he never denied he was a member. In fact at one time, he most likely was this society’s grand master, reportedly sharing this “honor” with Angelo Roncalli. Other Traditionalist organizers in the US and Mexico who established mass centers in both countries belonged to the Priory’s sister organization, the St. John’s Knights of Jerusalem (Shickshinny Knights; see https://www.betrayedcatholics.com/free-content/reference-links/4-heresy/tracing-traditionalism-to-its-masonic-origins/  This was a set up folks, and for awhile at least, everyone fell for it. Many are still trapped in these Traditionalist sects, because they are either hopelessly brainwashed or unaware of their true origins. Knowledge of the absolute binding nature of Cum ex… and VAS, in order to remain members of the Catholic Church, would have prevented this, and Traditionalist “clergy” knew it. Holy Scripture cries, “My people have been silent, because they had no knowledge” (Osee 4: 6) and nothing could more aptly apply to Traditionalists than this verse. Are there supporting proofs showing further how these infallible decrees affect us today? There are, and this will be explained below.

The Mind of Pope Pius XII

What other clues do we have that Pope Pius XII was aware of this tendency to Gallicanism in the Church and was determined to stamp it out? Even before issuing VAS, in June 1943, Pope Pius XII had defined the role of the bishops in his infallible encyclical Mystici Corporis as follows: “Bishops must be considered as the more illustrious members of the Universal Church, for they are united by a very special bond to the divine Head of the whole Body and so are rightly called ‘principal parts of the members of the Lord;’ moreover, as far as his own diocese is concerned, each one as a true Shepherd feeds the flock entrusted to him and rules it in the name of Christ. Yet in exercising this office they are not altogether independent, but are subordinate to the lawful authority of the Roman Pontiff, although enjoying the ordinary power of jurisdiction which they receive directly from the same Supreme Pontiff…”

And again in October 1954, in Ad Sinarum Gentum the pope taught: “But the power of jurisdiction, which is conferred upon the Supreme Pontiff directly by divine rights, flows to the Bishops by the same right, but only through the Successor of St. Peter, to whom not only the simple faithful, but even all the Bishops must be constantly subject, and to whom they must be bound by obedience and with the bond of unity.” Henry Cardinal Manning had already addressed this topic in the 1870s (see Manning’s The Pastoral Office), and even then, the majority of bishops at that time believed as Pope Pius XII later taught: the bishops do not receive their jurisdiction directly from Christ but instead this jurisdiction flows to them from Christ only through His Vicar. And these pronouncement, Msgr. Joseph C. Fenton reports, are doctrina certa because a decision was made on a question formerly in dispute. Therefore it is not able to be challenged or reformed. This was clarified in the August 1950 issuance of Pope Pius XII’s infallible encyclical, Humani generis.

Another indication of Pope Pius XII’s mind in this matter is the authentic interpretation he approved June 29, 1950 regarding Canon 147, issued through the Sacred Congregation six weeks prior to releasing Humani generis. This canon is directly connected to the conferring of offices. It reads: “An ecclesiastical office is not validly obtained without canonical appointment. By canonical appointment is understood the conferring of an ecclesiastical office by the competent ecclesiastical authority in harmony with the sacred canons.” Now according to the Sacred Canons and the rite of episcopal consecration, bishops can become bishops and receive their office only through the Roman Pontiff. Without such canonical appointment the office is not obtained. Isn’t this exactly what is stated in VAS?!

The decision of the Sacred Congregation (AAS 42-601) gives the text of DZ 967 and yet another version of DZ 960, varying slightly from the Denzinger translation: “Those who undertake to exercise these offices merely at the behest of and upon appointment by the people or secular power and authority, and those who assume the same upon their own authority, are all to be regarded not as ministers of the Church but as thieves and robbers who have entered not by the door… His holiness Pope Pius XII…in order to preserve more inviolate these same sacred principles and at the same time forestall abuses in a matter of such great importance… deigned to provide as follows…” (Canon Law Digest, Vol. 3, T. Lincoln Bouscaren, 1953).

And here several censures, specially reserved to the Holy See, are mentioned. These censures are quite interesting in themselves. They are incurred: “1) by those who contrive against legitimate ecclesiastical authority or who attempt in any way to subvert their authority; 2) by anyone who, without a canonical investiture or provision made according to the sacred canons, occupies an ecclesiastical office or benefice or dignity or allows anyone to be unlawfully intruded into the same or who retains the same and 3) by those who have any part directly or indirectly in the crimes mentioned in numbers one and two” (Ibid.).

It seems safe to say that someone who ignores all the laws regarding the proper reception of an office and sets themselves up as authorities outside the sacred canons would be considered by Pope Pius XII to have contrived against legitimate ecclesiastical authority, i.e., that of the Roman Pontiff. This would apply to Traditionalist “priests,” “bishops” and any among the faithful assisting them or adhering to them. Pope Pius XII once again addressed these same circumstances in Ad apostolorum principis, issued June 29, 1958, three months before his death. The problem had not gone away by any means but had surfaced in China. He wrote to the bishops there:

“38. For it has been clearly and expressly laid down in the canons that it pertains to the one Apostolic See to judge whether a person is fit for the dignity and burden of the episcopacy, and that complete freedom in the nomination of bishops is the right of the Roman Pontiff

“45. Well known are the terms of the Vatican Council’s solemn definition: “Relying on the open testimony of the Scriptures and abiding by the wise and clear decrees both of our predecessors, the Roman Pontiffs, and the general Councils, We renew the definition of the Ecumenical Council of Florence, by virtue of which all the faithful must believe that the Holy Apostolic See and the Roman Pontiff hold primacy over the whole world, and the Roman Pontiff himself is the Successor of the blessed Peter and continues to be the true Vicar of Christ and head of the whole Church, the father and teacher of all Christians, and to him is the blessed Peter our Lord Jesus Christ committed the full power of caring for, ruling and governing the Universal Church….

“46. We teach, . . . We declare that the Roman Church by the Providence of God holds the primacy of ordinary power over all others, and that this power of jurisdiction of the Roman Pontiff, which is truly episcopal, is immediate. Toward it, the pastors and the faithful of whatever rite and dignity, both individually and collectively, are bound by the duty of hierarchical subordination and true obedience, not only in matters which pertain to faith and morals, but also in those which concern the discipline and government of the Church spread throughout the whole world, in such a way that once the unity of communion and the profession of the same Faith has been preserved with the Roman Pontiff, there is one flock of the Church of Christ under one supreme shepherd. This is the teaching of the Catholic truth from which no one can depart without loss of faith and salvation.

“47. From what We have said, it follows that no authority whatsoever, save that which is proper to the Supreme Pastor, can render void the canonical appointment granted to any bishop; that no person or group, whether of priests or of laymen, can claim the right of nominating bishops; that no one can lawfully confer episcopal consecration unless he has received the mandate of the Apostolic See.

“48. Consequently, if consecration of this kind is being done contrary to all right and law, and by this crime the unity of the Church is being seriously attacked, an excommunication reserved specialissimo modo to the Apostolic See has been established which is automatically incurred by the consecrator and by anyone who has received consecration irresponsibly conferred.

For decades, Traditionalists have duplicitously attempted to exempt themselves from this encyclical using various deceits, most notably singling out the world “lawfully” to indicate that the consecration of their “bishops” has been unquestionably valid, if illicit. The rest they pretend to cover with epikeia, demonstrated historically in blog posts and articles on this site to be condemned by the Church when applied to episcopal consecrations. But here we are talking about bishops consecrating without the papal mandate who were themselves unquestionably validly consecrated while a Roman Pontiff was reigning, not men who were notorious heretics and schismatics, guilty of communicatio in sacris, branded with infamy, suspected of membership in a secret society and acting during an interregnum!

Therefore it is VAS, as the overriding document, supported by all the rest, specific to our situation, which prevails here. All these documents taken together can be seen to point to one thing and one thing only: no one may claim any consecration is certainly valid during an interregnum without the papal mandate. Those claiming such consecration were very likely only laymen to begin with, if one carefully traces out all the implications of the canons and VAS. And even if they were priests, priests cannot consecrate anyone.

Pope Pius XII’s curious addition to VAS

There is one other interesting detail that demonstrates Pope Pius XII’s true intent in revising Pope St. Pius X’s election law. The canonists Woywod-Smith explain that the revisions were made mainly to increase the vote needed for election from two-thirds to two-thirds plus one, to exclude the possibility that the candidate voted for himself. But in comparing the two election laws, one other notable addition is made, not present in Pope St. Pius X’s law. That addition is the insertion of the following phrase into paragraph three of the constitution:

In truth, if anything adverse to this command should by chance happen to come about or be attempted, We declare it, by Our Supreme Authority, to be null and void.Any attempt, then, to change any of the laws of the Church, or usurp her rights, especially those governing papal elections, are null and void. And this can only be seen to anticipate exactly what happened following Pius XII’s death. The pope’s addition of this phrase can be seen to be nothing less than a pointed statement that try as they might, all the Modernist, Gallicanist efforts to subvert the election of a true pope would come to naught.

Vacantis Book

One of those laws indirectly referenced in VAS (but not noted as such, coming from other sources as well) is none other than Cum ex Apostolatus Officio, which is retained in para. 36 concerning the deposition of cardinals (referring to Can. 188 §4, with Cum ex… cited by Gasparri as one of the fonts both from Pope Paul IV and Pope St. Pius V). Such deposition deprives one who has “publicly lapsed from the Catholic faith” of the office of cardinal, and only cardinals can participate in the election. This could and most likely did apply to a good number of cardinals attending the conclave, Roncalli especially, who gave more than one indication of his lapse from the faith in a public manner.

Another indirect reference to the bull is found in Pope St. Pius X’s/Pius XII’s citation of Paul IV’s 1558 Const. Cum secundum Apostolum, listed in the footnotes for paragraph 93 regarding the discussion of candidates for papal election prior to the death of the reigning pontiff. This bull of Paul IV’s made direct reference to the problems encountered with Cardinal Morone which prompted the issuance of Cum ex Apostolatus Officio in 1559. At that time Morone was on trial for heresy and Paul IV feared he could be elected on the event of his death. 

While specific papal laws may not be mentioned in the body of the text or the footnotes to the constitution, they are included in the reference made in that third paragraph above, where Pope Pius XII declares: “The laws issued by Roman Pontiffs in no way can be corrected or changed by the assembly of Cardinals of the Roman Church while it is without a Pope, nor can anything be subtracted from them or added or dispensed in any way whatsoever with respect to said laws or any part of them,” and this especially applies to VAS itself. Anything so added, subtracted, changed, corrected or dispensed from is null and void. Technically speaking, Traditionalists have summarily dispensed everyone from obeying or even acknowledging Cum ex…  as an applicable document and have entirely dispensed themselves as well from obeying VAS. The meaning of this document and its penalties are perfectly clear and require no interpretation. Dispensation is a relaxation of the law in special circumstances (Donald Attwater’s A Catholic Dictionary).

Even when allowed, dispensations are always to be interpreted strictly. And here we see that Pope Pius XII says that during an interregnum, THEY ARE NOT ALLOWED!  And if attempted, any changes and dispensations are null and void. To the charge that null and void in paragraphs one and three does not equal invalid, this word is used in paragraph one and implied by the use of null and void in paragraph three. Pope Leo XIII declared in Apostolica curae that “…to obtain orders nulliter means the same as by act null and void, that is invalid, as the very meaning of the word and as common parlance require.” Pope Alexander VIII, in condemning the Gallican articles, declared them “…null and void, invalid, useless” (DZ 1326). So goodbye epikeia, goodbye necessity. No wonder Traditionalists are scared to death to mention this law — it entirely destroys their position at every level.

VAS Consequences for Trad pseudo-clerics

  • Is it clear from the above that VAS is an infallible, unquestionably binding papal document?
  • Is it clear to the reader that Pope Pius XII fully intended to make null, void and invalid any attempt to usurp the jurisdiction he alone enjoyed in his lifetime during an interregnum?
  • Does this not apply to all those Traditionalists claiming to be clerics who have usurped this jurisdiction since Pius XII’s death?
  • Do Catholics not owe to such infallible decrees an unwavering and irrevocable assent, especially since VAS is the most solemn of documents?

The answer to all the above being a resounding “yes,” why are we still conceding even the possibility of any validity to Traditionalists when only a true pope could determine this? If a doubtful pope is no pope, then certainly a doubtful bishop is no bishop. It is true that doubt alone, under pain of mortal sin, is enough to cause any honest and fervent Catholic from ever resorting to Traditionalists. But is it enough to assure an unwavering and irrevocable assent to this and various other infallible papal decrees? Let us walk through this process and see how many roadblocks we encounter to make it possible that these men, even if they actually received orders (which they did not), could ever even validly function as bishops. If we fail to accept the clear meaning of Pope Pius XII’s words in words in VAS, what prevents us from questioning every other infallible document? It is not just the papal mandate that is forbidden here, but the change in and erasure of all the canon laws Traditionalists have effected by their relentless resort to the epikeia principle. Some of these are listed below. 

According to Canon Laws in existence at the death of Pope Pius XII, those seeking ordination from a schismatic bishop commit communicatio in sacris. The penalty for communicatio in sacris is rendered in Can. 2314, with reference to Can. 1258. Rev. Ignatius Szal states in his Communication of Catholics with Schismatics, (Catholic Univ. Of America dissertation, 1948): “The reception of holy Orders from the hands of schismatic bishops has practically always been forbidden by the Church. Rarely has the Holy See ever considered it necessary to receive orders from a schismatic bishop. THE PROHIBITION TO RECEIVE HOLY ORDERS AT THE HANDS OF A SCHISMATIC BISHOP IS CONTAINED IN THE GENERAL PROHIBITION AGAINST ACTIVE RELIGIOUS COMMUNICATION AS EXPRESSED IN CAN. 1258 §1 [canon on communicatio in sacris].” And here we are talking about receiving such orders during the reign of a true pontiff, not during an interregnum.

Also from Rev. Szal: “On August 7, 1704, The Holy Office also stated that, “The decree which prohibited Catholics from being present at the Masses and prayers of schismatics APPLIED ALSO IN THOSE PLACES WHERE THERE WERE NO CATHOLIC PRIESTS and with reference to such prayers as contained nothing contrary to faith and the Catholic rite…On May 15, 1709, the Holy Office forbade Catholics to hear the confession of schismatics or to confess to them…Under no circumstances, not even in the case of necessity, according to a response of the Sacred Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith on Feb. 17, 1761, was it permissible for a Catholic to confess his sins to a schismatic priest in order to obtain absolution from him…” (This very same teaching on necessity is repeated by Pope Pius VI in Charitas, 1791; see below.) “On two other occasions, May 10, 1753, and April 17, 1758, the Holy See again forbade Catholics to participate in the masses of schismatics. In 1769, certain priests “were called to task for joining in the celebration of Mass with schismatics. The ignorance was inexcusable, and the act was a sacrilege which violated the true faith.” This and Szal’s quotes above are indications of God’s signified will, legitimate authority directing the people to avoid these men. These directives come from the office of Christ’s Vicars on earth and no Catholic may question or disobey them without incurring excommunication and losing their membership in the Church.

“For the right of ordaining bishops belongs only to the Apostolic See, as the Council of Trent declares; it cannot be assumed by any bishop or metropolitan without obliging Us to declare as both schismatic both those who ordain and those who are ordained thus invalidating their future actions.” (see Can. 2265 §1 [2-3]) We therefore severely forbid [these]… wickedly elected and illicitly consecrated men, under this punishment of suspension, to assume episcopal jurisdiction or any other authority for the guidance of souls since they have never received it. They must not grant dimissorial letters for ordinations. Nor must they appoint, depute, or confirm pastors, vicars, missionaries, helpers, functionaries, ministers, or others, whatever their title, for the care of souls and the administration of the Sacraments UNDER ANY PRETEXT OF NECESSITY WHATSOEVER. Nor may they otherwise act, decree, or decide, whether separately or united as a council, on matters which relate to ecclesiastical jurisdiction. For We declare and proclaim publicly that all their dimissorial letters and deputations or confirmations, past and future, as well as all their rash proceedings and their consequences, ARE UTTERLY VOID AND WITHOUT FORCE. (Pope Pius VI, Charitas)

Those receiving these orders from schismatics not only are ipso facto excommunicated for heresy, they also incur infamy of law. Infamy of law invalidates the exercise of orders and participation in sacred functions. Revs. Woywod-Smith explain the effects of infamy of law under Can. 2294 §1: “A person who has incurred infamy of law is not only irregular, as declared by Can. 984 n. 5, but in addition, he is incapacitated from obtaining ecclesiastical benefices, pensions, offices and dignities, from performing legal ecclesiastical acts, from discharging any ecclesiastical right or duty, and must be restrained from the exercise of sacred functions of the ministry.” The authors continue: “The person who has incurred…an infamy of law…cannot validly obtain ecclesiastical benefices, pensions, offices and dignities, nor can he validly exercise the rights connected with the same, nor perform a valid, legal ecclesiastical act.” Canon 2295 states: “Infamy of law ceases only on dispensation granted by the Apostolic See.” So not only does VAS make null and void all ecclesiastical acts undertaken during an interregnum, Canon Law, which cannot be changed or dispensed from during an interregnum declares all jurisdictional acts of these men illegal and invalid. 

Under the heading “Jurisdictional rights and prerogatives of the pope” in the Catholic Encyclopedia online, please read the additional matters that only a pope can decide at https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/12260a.htm.  This includes the grant of the papal mandate, the erection of dioceses, the transfer of bishops from one diocese to the other as well as other rights and prerogatives. Both Lefebvre and Thuc resigned their appointments by Pope Pius XII and accepted appointments from John 23 and Paul 6, one of many of their acts of communicatio in sacris. Once they incurred infamy, under the canon above, they were capable only of conveying questionably valid orders that could never be exercised. And it is now clear that in consecrating bishops, they could not act validly at all. Those maintaining these men validly ordained and consecrated Traditionalists are dispensing themselves from Canon Law, on many different levels, and as VAS proclaims, such dispensation, correction, or relaxation of a law in special circumstances, is null and void.

But aren’t schismatic ordinations and consecrations valid?

Ordinarily, yes, when a canonically elected pope reigns. “Clement VIII, in his instruction Sanctissimus of August 31, 1595, stated that those who had received ordination at the hands of schismatic bishops who apart from their schismatic status were properly consecrated — the necessary form having been observed — did indeed receive orders, but not the right to exercise them. In this he repeated the doctrine of the glossators. Benedict XIV, in the Constitution Etsi pastoralis, of May 26, 1742, confirmed this doctrine of Clement VIII.” (The Communication of Catholics with Schismatics, Rev. Ignatius Szal, A.B., J.C.L.; Catholic University of America Canon Law dissertation, 1948). But the pope teaches in VAS that while they are valid, all jurisdictional acts emanating from them are null and void during an interregnum simply because he is not there to review and approve the men being consecrated; they must wait for the new pope to be elected. Consecrations in any other time period other than an interregnum would be presumably valid in themselves but useless because they cannot be validly exercised. And without that approval, these men possess no offices which allow them to teach or preach, erect seminaries (with papal approval) and admit candidates for the priesthood. Lefebvre and Thuc accepted their “offices” from a lay authority, a usurper occupying the Holy See (and this is even worse than a lay authority) who had no power to grant such an office. As such, under Can. 147 they became the equivalent of vitandus, which further complicates their situation (Can. 147, Canon Law Digest, Vol. 3; AAS 42-601 and 42-195).

Does the pope have the right to declare that these orders are not valid? If the pope can decide Anglican orders were invalid, and if he can decide particular cases that are presented to him, of course he can. He has the fullness of apostolic jurisdiction. Furthermore, as Rev. J. Tixeront explains in his Holy Orders and Ordination (1928): “The Apparatus of Innocent IV (1243-1254) expounds the theory that the pope has the right to place diriment impediments not only for Matrimony, but also for the conferring of all the Sacraments, Baptism included. As Saltet remarks, this theory tells volumes about the development given to the idea of pontifical authority since the time of Gregory VII and Urban II.  As Donald Attwater explains in his A Catholic Dictionary: “Diriment impediments are obstacles arising either from natural law or the law of the Church which prohibits marriage between the persons affected and makes null and void any attempted marriage between them.”

Doesn’t it sound like Pius XII is placing a diriment impediment to Orders here considering the wording of VAS? And that these orders would be null and void if even attempted? As in Holy Scripture, Fr. Felix Sarda says in his Liberalism is a Sin, so with papal documents; they are to be taken literally unless indicated otherwise by the very sense of the statement. In their Dictionary of Dogmatic Theology, (1951),  Parente, Piolanti and Garofalo, under hierarchy write: “Jurisdiction originates through canonical mission…and the valid use of orders, IN MOST CASES, cannot be prevented, while jurisdiction is revocable.” Parente is most likely referring here to Can. 104, the effects of which are explained  in the summary below. And this canon finally solves the riddle of how Traditionalist pseudo-clergy were entirely incapable of receiving Orders.

So please, Traditionalist hypocrites, do not pretend that you are the heirs of the Church left to us by Pope Pius XII. This is an outrageous lie, and the infallible words of VAS, Mystici Corporis, Ad Sinarum gentum and Humani generiswhich teaches that encyclical letters entered into the Acta Apostolica Sedis are binding on Catholics for belief — prove this. Nor can you presume to correct, dispense yourselves from or interpret Canon Law, which VAS forbids. You may be heirs to the hidden Avignon “papacy,” to the Coptic “papacy” of the Eastern Orthodox, to a shadowy, false papacy yet to be established, but NOT heirs to the papacy established on earth by Jesus Christ, founded on St. Peter the Rock. This you have never been and will never be.

Summary

It doesn’t require a PhD to determine that what has been done here is nothing short of criminal and worthy of hell. There was never any intention by Traditionalists to follow the law or try to restore the Church once the Novus Ordo Missae was introduced. There was every intention to confuse the faithful, misinform them, pacify them with what they wanted and desired, fleece them, and when anyone dared question the operators, they moved on to the next round of unsuspecting suckers recently leaving the Novus Ordo or other sects.

By ignoring Cum ex… and VAS, also the teachings of St. Robert Bellarmine regarding a doubtful pope, they were able to shift the focus to the “loss of the Mass,” rallying the faithful behind the secondary consequences, not the actual cause of the problem. A simple survey of Scripture and saintly literature proves that the Mass could end only with the coming of Antichrist. Antichrist proper could only reign unopposed; a king reigning during an interregnum. Had John 23 and Paul 6 been actively opposed and a true pope elected, they would have gone down in history as antichrists, not Paul 6 as THE Antichrist.    

And that was the plan. Suppress, misdirect, misinform, omit, ignore, distract, misinterpret — they had it all down to a “T.” Delay at all costs until it is too late to do anything. Circulate idiot theories such as material/formal and recognize and resist, fancy slogans for the intellectually lazy, (according to the scholastic theologian A.C. Cotter, S.J.). Isn’t this what has happened to our country as well? Is there any doubt that the ultimate source of this is all the same? How could VAS, or Cum ex… for that matter, possibly mean anything other than what it obviously states?

Pope Pius XII saw this coming. He pulled out all the stops because he feared that few faithful bishops were left and may even have had doubts about his own cardinals. In issuing Mystici Corporis in 1943, he resolved an issue that had been circulating since the Council of Constance. The Catholic Encyclopedia reports: “[Gallicanist] principles even appeared at the Council of Trent, where the ambassadors, theologians, and bishops of France repeatedly championed them, notably when the questions for decision were as to whether episcopal jurisdiction comes immediately from God or through the pope…” (article on Gallicanism).

If this heresy was not still a threat, then why did Pope Pius XII address it at all, and why did he keep addressing it? Why, in 1954, after calling together a committee to call an ecumenical council, did he suddenly decide to abandon it? Was it not because of the very warning Pope Pius XI received from Cardinal Billot when he also proposed to call a council in 1923? “As early as May 23, 1923, Pope Pius XI had wanted to convoke an Ecumenical Council to condemn the modern errors of Communism and Modernism.

The Cardinals at that time voiced strong opposition to the idea, stating that so many bishops had been imbued with Modernist and liberal ideas that such a Council would do more harm to the Church than good. Cardinal Billot said: ‘The worst enemies of the Church, the Modernists… are already getting ready… to bring forth a revolution in the Church, like that of 1789 [in France].’ Due to the dangers involved, Pope Pius XI gave up on the idea of an ecumenical council” (Fr. R. Dulac, Episcopal Collegiality of The Second Vatican Council, (French publ.), pgs. 9-10).

Frere Michel reports in his The Whole Truth About Fatima, Vol. III that sharp divisions wracked the preparatory commission for a council under Pope Pius XII, with the progressives making extensive inroads (pgs. 300-301). The entire process was effectively paralyzed by the impasse posed by the progressives. Pope Pius XII abandoned the idea of the council saying he was too old to see it through, although, Frere Michel reports from Civilta Cattolica, “…He did so against his better judgment.” Already Pope Pius XII was surrounded, and he knew it. In 1952 he became so ill it would have been impossible for him to have seen a council through. The enemy was already within the gate, and they were gunning for him. After a near-death experience and a vision of Christ in 1954, Pius XII all but shut down Holy Office operations. In a most telling move, he neglected to appoint a cardinal camerlengo to preside at the conclave following his death. In his will, he left all his writings to those who might benefit from them. 

Vacantis Apostolicae Sedis is among them. It is the padlock on the Church’s door keeping everything inside unmolested, just as it was when he left us. Let the heathen rage, but that padlock will not be broken. It stands as a testimony to who and what Pope Pius XII was, and his determination to forever keep whole and intact the Deposit of Faith he was chosen to guard.

Summation of Principles Stated Above

  • VAS is an unquestionably infallible document compiled from the teachings and practices of the Church throughout the centuries and therefore represents the sum total of all Her laws regarding papal election and what is permitted and prohibited during an interregnum.
  • This law specifically governs us in the absence of a canonically elected Roman Pontiff, and as St. Robert Bellarmine teaches, a doubtful pope is no pope.
  • The import of VAS is clear. It differs little from the election law issued by Pope St. Pius X, and that primarily a) in the number of votes required to validly elect and b) Pope Pius XII’s addition to paragraph three that leaves no doubt about its infallibility.
  • The summary of this constitution given by the canonists Woywod-Smith and Bouscaren-Ellis is what has been used by this author as the basis for this article and others previously published.
  • If Traditionalists truly acknowledge Pope Pius XII as the last pope of the Catholic Church they are bound to obey unequivocally all the teachings of this infallible constitution.
  • This means accepting all papal teachings and Canon Laws of the Church, as stated and understood prior to the death of Pope Pius XII, which VAS forbids anyone to correct, change, or dispense from, in whole or in part.
  • According to the existing Canon Laws of the Church, which must be upheld precisely as they exist; and in keeping with the long-held conviction by Traditionalists that the Novus Ordo church is not the CATHOLIC Church, Marcel Lefebvre and Peter Martin Ngo dinh Thuc, by their own admission, committed communicatio in sacris by publicly professing themselves as members of that non-Catholic church and participating in its religious activities.
  • As a result, they incurred ipso facto excommunication for heresy/schism, deposition from any offices they held and infamy of law, invalidating any future acts involving the Sacraments.
  • Because the granting of the papal mandate is an act of papal jurisdiction, it is reserved to the pope alone. Any attempt to consecrate bishops without this grant is null, void and invalid.
  • The necessity of the papal mandate for valid consecration is a conditio sine qua non under Can. 104, which reads: “Error annuls an action, when the error concerns the substance of the action or amounts to a conditio sine qua non — that is to say, if the action would not have been done except for the error; otherwise the action is valid, unless the law states otherwise…” (Can. 104). And VAS, also Can. 2445, most clearly leave no doubt in this matter.
  •  In this case Pope Pius XII has made the possession of the papal mandate a conditio sine qua non and declared those violating the law (the cardinals presumably) incapable of acting.
  • “No ignorance of invalidating or disqualifying laws excuses from their observance; namely no ignorance of the aforementioned laws can make acts valid which they have rendered invalid nor can it make persons capable of acting whom they have declared incapacitated from acting. Nor can subjects be excused from the observance of these laws, for the matter is in no way dependent on the will of the agent but on the contrary depends entirely.” Abp. Amleto Cicognani, Canon Law, 1935, Can. 16).
  • In order to be considered a Catholic adhering only to the Church as She existed until the death of Pope Pius XII, all must reject ALL Traditionalist pseudo-clergy and abide solely by Church law and teaching as VAS commands.

© Copyright 2022, T. Stanfill Benns (All emphasis within quotes is the author’s.)

 

Obedience to Vacantis Apostolicae Sedis would end the present confusion

Obedience to Vacantis Apostolicae Sedis would end the present confusion

 

+ St. Matthew, Apostle +

The post below will address comments on the sedevacantist Passion of the Church article which was reviewed here last week because this article also makes reference to the possibility that John 23 was validly elected, quoting Pope Pius IX to the effect that even an “unworthy heir” can still reign validly. Other blogsters and Internet commentators are now hyperventilating about a new video by a Fr. Altman detailing the heresies of Francis. One of these is Patrick Henry, whose comments, unfortunately, have been picked up by other blogs. I don’t normally name names here but I am now forced to warn readers that Patrick Henry’s writings are not in compliance with the teachings of the Roman Pontiffs. 

I have corrected Henry on this on several occasions, even published blog articles that demonstrate where he is in error, but to no avail. He insists that I believe that the laity comprises the magisterium, when all I have ever done is point to what the magisterium teaches. He denies the binding statement entered into the Acta Apostolica Sedis by Pius XII that in the absence of the hierarchy, the laity must take up all of their responsibilities. He refuses to believe that once the papacy is taken away, as St. Paul prophesied, the sheep would scatter as Christ warned. Here we need only cite three of his statements to prove that despite his copious quotes from the popes, he teaches falsely on Christ’s constitution of the Church and the fullness of papal power.

— “Truly Catholic Bishops MUST exist – otherwise there is no Catholic Church today and Jesus Christ would be a liar.”

“It is heretical to state that the Catholic Church can be in existence without the episcopal order of the hierarchy consisting of Catholic bishops with the power of Orders and the power of jurisdiction.”

“[Benns states]: The Apostolic hierarchy cannot exist without its head bishop, the pope.” [Should] Catholics believe this last sentence is the truth for even the length of one New York second?”

Notice there is no mention of the pope here as head bishop, implying that he denies the papacy is necessary for the episcopate to exist. This is consistent with the belief of sedevacantists who deny the necessity of the papacy and endorse Gallicanism. We read from the Vatican Council: “So in His Church, [Christ] wished the pastors and the doctors to be even to the consummation of the world. But, that the episcopacy itself might be one and undivided, and that the entire multitude of the faithful through priests closely connected with one another might be preserved in the unity of faith and communion, placing blessed Peter over the other apostles, He established in him the perpetual principle and visible foundation of both unities upon whose strength the internal temple it might be erected and the sublimity of the Church to be raised to heaven might rise in the firmness of this faith” (DZ 1821; emph. mine).

So the way this is worded, the existence of the pastors and doctors even to the end of the world was dependent on whether they are founded on Peter, which explains the beginning of the following sentence with ”But.” The house of the faith cannot stand without its foundation. As quoted in last week’s blog from Pope Pius IX’s encyclical Nostis et Nobiscum: “Religion itself can never totter and fall WHILE THIS CHAIR REMAINS INTACT.” The Church cannot be one and undivided without Peter, for if divided from him, it is not one. If the Novus Ordo church and Traditionalists of all varieties are hopelessly at war with one another, how is anyone ever to arrive at anything close to the truth without adhering to the integral teachings of the Church, the fullness of papal teaching prior to Pope Pius XII’s death? The cacophony out there is so deafening because even people like Henry who pray at home seem to be playing for the same team and have been for some time. More on this later.

One of Henry’s main objections is the fact that Vacantis Apostolicae Sedis renders any bishops consecrated without the papal mandate INVALID, when Henry insists that the Church teaches “no LAWFUL consecration may take place in the entire Catholic Church without the order of the Apostolic See, as the Council of Trent declares.” That is true when a canonically elected pope is reigning, as some have claimed in citing Ad apostolorum principis  to support the ”lawful” scenario. But it is NOT true during an extended interregnum, and Vacantis Apostolicae Sedis, which will be examined at length below proves this. Anyone who dares to state that Pope Pius XII meant otherwise and fails to accept the conclusions which must logically be drawn from this constitution denies the teachings of the Vatican Council.

The binding force of papal constitutions

The sedevacantist article referred to last week states: “It is reasonable to hold that Roncalli was the first false pope of the 20th century. Since the evidence against John XXIII, however, is not as copious or as clear-cut as it is against Paul VI (r. 1963-78), some believe the first false pope was Paul VI… There are no cardinals appointed by a true Pope alive today, that much is certain, unless we want to posit that there is some true Pope in hiding who has appointed cardinals. While that may or may not be possible, either way it would remain a mere hypothesis.” But if the cardinals are all dead, how could there ever be another pope?, an opponent queries. And the sede blog replies: “Pius XII’s constitution on how to elect a Roman Pontiff is merely ecclesiastical law and therefore human law. It is not divine law, and it is therefore limited of its very nature. A human legislator — in this case, the Pope — can never foresee all possible circumstances that may arise, and human laws, even in the Church, are not meant to address all possible scenarios but are typically made only for ordinary circumstances.”

How any Catholic could possibly believe that this infallible constitution, a teaching of Christ’s Vicar, written with the active assistance of the Holy Ghost is merely a human document is truly astonishing. This grave error has been addressed at length in the article on epikeia. As will be seen below, the first three paragraphs of Title 1, Ch. 1 of Pope Pius XII’s election Constitution, Vacantis Apostolicae Sedis (abbreviated below as VAS), treats of papal jurisdiction and the nature of the primacy as it exists during an interregnum, not disciplinary matters. Title I has nothing to do with the election itself per se, but with the exercise of that jurisdiction St. Peter and his successors receive directly from Christ. (This, however, does not mean that certain teachings in the election law itself are not infallible.) A constitution is not just a law. It is: “A papal document that deals with serious doctrinal matters regarding the DEFINITION OF DOGMA, changes in canon law or other ecclesiastical matters.” This definition reveals that such constitutions can be either dogmatic or disciplinary, but as seen below they are always binding.

The Catholic Encyclopedia states: “The binding force of pontifical constitutions, even without the acceptance of the Church, is beyond question. The primacy of jurisdiction possessed by the successor of Peter comes immediately and directly from Christ. That this includes the power of making obligatory laws is evident. Moreover, that the popes have the intention of binding the faithful directly and immediately is plain from the mandatory form of their constitutions.” The Encyclopedia article, taken from S.B. Smith’s Elements of Ecclesiastical Law, calls these constitutions “synonymous” with laws, but not identical to them, since “…even in ecclesiastical usage the word constitution is restricted to papal ordinances.” In this case Pope Pius XII was defining dogma in the first three paragraphs of VAS, as did his predecessor Pope St. Pius X in the very same words. But he made certain there was no doubt that this was exactly what he was doing, adding to Pope St. Pius X’s document that what was stated in those three paragraphs issued from his Supreme Authority (see article HERE).

Whether it concerns matters of faith, morals or discipline, then, when we see that any document has been entered into the Acta Apostolica Sedis, we know that this document is binding on the faithful and that the Pope intends us to consider it something that he absolutely commands us to believe and to obey. Pope Pius XII taught in Humani generis that whenever you find any papal act registered in the Acta Apostolica Sedis, it is binding. This is explained here by Msgr. Joseph C. Fenton. Now if you read a papal document and it says “with the fullness of our Apostolic authority, with our Supreme Authority, We define, decree, declare” or anything like that you know the Pope is telling you that this is something that you are definitely bound to believe and to hold, an order issuing directly from him as the pastor of souls and the voice of Jesus Christ. But it doesn’t necessarily have to say this, in so many words, to be binding on the faithful. When the pope does say this, though, that should tell the faithful something. It should tell them that whatever it is he is saying is coming not from his lips alone, but from the mouth of Christ.

So Vacantis Apostolicae Sedis is a binding document for the simple reason that it treats matters of dogma and is entered into the 1946 Acta Apostolica Sedis (5 – ACTA, vol. XIII, n. 3. — 4-2-946). Traditionalists can try to pretend they have the power to dispense from it and override it, but that is exactly what the constitution was written to prevent and why such attempts are infallibly declared to be invalid. For the pope explains that during an interregnum (a) no one can usurp the jurisdiction of the Roman Pontiff following his death or do anything that was reserved to the Roman Pontiff during his lifetime; (b) no one can violate the rights or prerogatives of the Church and everyone must defend them and finally (c) no one can change papal law or papal teaching or dispense from it in any way during an interregnum because those laws emanate primarily from the Roman Pontiffs and the ecumenical councils. This is clearly a clarification of Divine jurisdiction, which is why Pius XII concludes with the following:

“In truth, if anything adverse to this command should by chance happen to come about or be attempted, we declare it, BY OUR SUPREME AUTHORITY, to be null and void.”

This invalidation of acts would include but is not limited to: (a) the election of Angelo Roncalli contrary to the laws and teachings of the Church and in violation of VAS and its provisions; (b) any attempt to consecrate bishops without the mandatory papal approval; (c) presumption of the VALIDITY of ordinations and consecrations performed by bishops approved by Pius XII without a decision by the Holy See, when the disposition of such irregular activities are reserved to his judgment alone; (d) the validity of first tonsure and obligatory examination of priestly candidates by those who lost jurisdiction through heresy and schism (since tonsure is a jurisdictional act) or who never became bishops per VAS, but were mere laymen; (e) any attempt, by anyone, to interpret VAS is automatically null and void since it is reserved strictly to the cardinals, who have all expired.

Essentially what Pope Pius XII has issued here is an (infallible) invalidating and incapacitating law. It applies only to interregnums which for the past several centuries have been limited by papal law and are relatively brief. Therefore, the temporary suspension of the papal approval of bishops and supplying of jurisdiction, also decisions on papal cases pending, was not burdensome. But the current interregnum is unprecedented and any so-called remaining bishops living  at the time of Pope Pius XII’s death are entirely culpable for the length of its existence. “No ignorance of invalidating or disqualifying laws excuses from their observance; namely no ignorance of the aforementioned laws can make acts valid which they have rendered invalid nor can it make persons capable of acting whom they have declared incapacitated from acting. Nor can subjects be excused from the observance of these laws, for the matter is in no way dependent on the will of the agent but on the contrary depends entirely on the will of the legislator who issued such laws BECAUSE THE COMMON GOOD REQUIRED IT” (Abp. Amleto Cicognani, Canon Law, 1935, Can. 16).

Both Pope St. Pius X and Pope Pius XII invalidated all acts contrary to papal law and teaching and every usurpation of papal jurisdiction to defend the sacred institution of the primacy. Pope Pius XII did so by his Supreme Authority, making it clear there was no possibility this law could be dismissed as a mere human or disciplinary law. And given the nature of invalidating laws and what’s happened to the Church, we know why Pius XII wrote this constitution: It was for the good of the Church, because he knew that there is no better time to upend everything than when the See is vacant; and the mutineers were already at work. Denial that the Pope must be canonically elected  is a heresy condemned long ago by the Church that is also reflected in Canon Law.

 What is meant by canonical election?

Canon 147: “An ecclesiastical office is not validly obtained without canonical appointment. By canonical appointment is understood the conferring of an ecclesiastical office by the competent ecclesiastical authority in harmony with the sacred canons.”

A decision of the Sacred Congregation regarding this Canon was issued June 29, 1950 (AAS 42-601). It levied excommunications “specially reserved to the Holy See” against those who violate Can. 147 and who contrive against legitimate ecclesiastical authority or attempt to subvert their authority, also anyone who takes part in such a crime. This only further confirms the first three paragraphs of Pius XII’s election law.

Canon 160: “The election of the Roman Pontiff is governed exclusively by the constitution of Pope Pius X, Vacante Sede Apostolica… amended and completely revised by [Pope Pius XII’s] constitution Vacantis Apostolicae Sedis of December 8, 1945.” Thus the Code itself confirms the papal constitutions regarding elections in its laws. It is not per se a law itself, however, since it issues directly from the Pontiff himself.

Canon 219: “The Roman Pontiff legitimately elected obtains from the moment he accepts the election the full power of supreme jurisdiction by divine right” (see also Can 109).

“Immediately on the canonical election of a candidate and his acceptance, he is true pope and can exercise full and absolute jurisdiction over the whole Church.”(Catholic Encyclopedia)

Canon 436: “During the vacancy [of an episcopal see] no innovations shall be made,” and as Rev. Anscar Parsons notes below: “The election of the Holy Father has been the prototype for the election of inferior prelates.”

In the 1958 election, Roncalli and an undetermined number of other cardinals incurred censures which could only be lifted by a FUTURE pope, barring them from election. That they elected him anyway was itself a heresy, for it not only violated VAS, and nullified the actions of those cardinals voting for Roncalli, but also denied the teachings that the pope must be canonically elected, that is, according to the existing law. Errors against this teaching are condemned as found in Denzinger’s Sources of Catholic Dogma, DZ 570 d, (decree for the Armenians); and the condemnation of Wycliffe and Hus for heresy, (DZ 650, 652, 674). Then, in accepting him as a true pope, these cardinals also incurred schism, creating a new church with a false, monstrous  head. And later, in joining in “worship” of him and with him, they committed communicatio in sacris (Can. 2314 §3). Pope Paul IV also refers to canonical election in his 1559 Bull Cum ex Apostolatus Officio, after stating that the faithful may depart from a heretic appearing to be pope without any fear of incurring censure: “Subjects… remain, nevertheless, bound in fealty and obedience to future Bishops, Archbishops, Primates, Cardinals and the canonically established Roman Pontiff.”

Unworthy candidates for the papacy

Above we mentioned that the sedevacantist article quoted Pope Pius IX on the matter of an unworthy heir and this quote reads: “Let the faithful recall the fact that Peter, Prince of Apostles is alive here and rules in his successors, and that his office does not fail even in an unworthy heir. Let them recall that Christ the Lord placed the impregnable foundation of his Church on this See of Peter [Mt 16:18] and gave to Peter himself the keys of the kingdom of Heaven… ” (Nostis et Nobiscum). In his dissertation Canonical Elections, (Catholic University of America Press, 1939), Rev. Anscar Parsons addresses the instance of the election of an unworthy candidate. He begins by stating: “The election of the Holy Father has been the prototype for the election of inferior prelates.” This is important, because it then relates that these canons he refers to regarding ecclesiastical elections are applicable to papal elections as well, under the canons governing what is to be done when there is some doubt about a certain affair, (Canons 18 and 20). As both Rev. Parsons and Rev. Timothy Mock (Disqualification of Electors in Ecclesiastical Elections, Catholic University of America Press, 1958) explain:

The election of an unworthy candidate is null and void from the beginning, because QUALIFIED ELECTORS are bound to know that the one they elect is duly qualified. By unworthy is meant a person branded by infamy of law or fact or a notorious apostate, heretic, schismatic or public sinner. Canon 2391 §1 provides the parallel passage of the Code mentioned in Can. 18: “A college which  knowingly elects an unworthy person is automatically deprived, for that particular election, of the right to hold a new election.” The fact that this election was based on the wishes and desires of the U.S. government alone, as demonstrated in The Phantom Church in Rome, in violation of VAS — not to mention all the other violations noted above — indicates the intent to deliberately act contrary to the commands of Pope Pius XII, i.e., knowingly.

This takes us back to the election of Roncalli himself, still listed in 1958 as a suspected Modernist by the Holy Office, which not only disqualifies him as a candidate but voids the election of Montini and all who followed him. Rev. Parsons comments that those considered unfit or unworthy of election are “…those who are legally infamous or laboring under censure [also] notorious apostates, schismatics… public sinners and persons whose conduct is sinful or scandalous… In normal cases it is PRESUMED that the chapter made its choice with full deliberation and knowledge, because it is their duty to investigate the qualities of the person whom they elect … If the majority elect someone who is unworthyall the voters, even those who are innocent are deprived of the right to vote in this instance (p. 197). Wouldn’t the Cardinals have been obligated to vote for anyone BUT a suspected heretic, especially given Pope Pius XII’s public disapproval of Roncalli’s behavior? And doesn’t this prove in a backhanded fashion that he was elected for other reasons, i.e., in collusion with Montini and his CIA friends?

Rev. Mock agrees with Parsons, writing: “…The burden of proof …will be upon the electors to show that they did not know of the defect in the candidate. The electors are PRESUMED to know the qualifications required by law” (p. 137). Parsons poses the question: “Is the election of an unworthy person void from the beginning? It seems that it is. For the law says that the chapter is deprived of the right to proceed ‘…to a new election. In making this disposition, the legislator seems to suppose that the original choice was null and void” (p. 197.)” The electors showed their true intent by the subsequent election of Montini, the CIA’s star operative in the Vatican, and the eventual devastation he wreaked upon the Church. What further damning evidence could anyone possibly hope for to prove this case?! (This discussion can be reviewed in its entirety as presented in a previous blog HERE.) In codifying the papal election laws, Pope St. Pius X removed almost every obstacle to canonical election save that of heresy, apostasy and schism. So while Pope Pius IX could be referring to someone elected under infamy of law or fact, or to a public sinner, as unworthy, he COULD NOT have included in his intended meaning anyone guilty of heresy, apostasy or schism; this is a preposterous assumption and would contradict Cum ex Apostolatus Officio.

Pope Leo XIII wrote, in Satis Cognitum, June 20, 1896: “It is absurd to imagine that he who is outside can command in the Church.” And as St. Robert Bellarmine taught, a man not even a member of the Church can scarcely become its head. We read in the Catholic Encyclopedia on papal elections: “Of course the election of a heretic, schismatic, or female would be null and void. Immediately on the canonical election of a candidate and his acceptance, [the one designated] is true pope and can exercise full and absolute jurisdiction over the whole Church.” And once such an individual reveals that he intends to corrupt the liturgy and create a new idea of the Church, he is a heretic and schismatic, and therefore was never canonically elected. Cum ex Apostolatus Officio is the final word on this topic, although Traditionalists have vilified and ignored it from the beginning. All this argumentation, disputation, and demonization of actual proofs, in order to favor only opinions and theories, could have been avoided long ago by simply following Cum ex Apostolatus Officio, VAS, and the teachings of St. Robert Bellarmine.

To claim Roncalli a qualified candidate for election the following canons would need to be dispensed from, which is infallibly forbidden by Pope Pius XII in VAS.

Roncalli’s checkered history and close friendship and collaboration with Montini, which is a matter of public knowledge; and especially his listing by Pope Pius XI as a suspected Modernist, proves he indeed was just as guilty of heresy as Montini. For Can. 2209 reads: “Persons who conspire to commit an offense and also physically concur in the execution of the same are all guilty in the same degree…” And if VAS is obeyed, we must accept this Canon as negatively infallible truth.

Until Roncalli could be cleared of all suspicion of heresy (which is not a possibility), he would have been ineligible for election under Can. 2200, which assumes his guilt as at least a material heretic and therefore places him outside the Church (Rev. Tanquerey, several others) until his innocence is proven (see article HERE). It became publicly known in the 1960s, shortly after his election, that Roncalli was a suspected heretic, making the violation a known external act.

Canon 2200 contains a presumption of law and cannot be struck down until such innocence is firmly established by competent ecclesiastical authority (Can. 147; see above). The cardinals electing him, who failed to investigate him and later went on to implement the new liturgy and Vatican 2 could scarcely be described as competent. In fact, nearly all were not valid electors and therefore could not have comprised the 2/3 plus one majority necessary to validly elect. Because as Pope Pius XII teaches in para. 68 of VAS,  unless this majority exists, the election is invalid.

Canons 1812, 1814 and 1816: Canon 1812 lists acts of the Roman Pontiffs as “public documents.” Can 1814 states that: “Public documents, both ecclesiastical and civil are presumed genuine until the contrary is proven by evident arguments.” Canon 1816 states: “Public documents prove the facts” of the case … “No further proof is required and the judge must pronounce in favor of the party whose contention is proved by a public document.”

— Canons 1827 and 1828 state that: “He who has a presumption of law in his favor (Canons 1814, 2200) is freed from the burden of proof which is thus shifted to his opponent. If the latter cannot prove that the presumption failed in this case, the judge must render sentence in favor of the one on whose side the presumption stands” (Can 1827). “Presumptions which are not stated in law shall not be conjectured by the judge except from a certain and specific fact which is directly connected with the fact in controversy. The presumption must thus be a kind of reasonable conclusion or inference from another specific fact established by evidence in the case. Since all inferential evidence is dangerous and easily misleads, the Code  warns against conjectures” (and Pope Pius XII condemns the use of conjectures in Humani generis).

Conclusion

As we have stated repeatedly, obedience to VAS, to papal teaching in its fullness and to Canon Law would see the way clear to resolving this situation regarding the vacancy insofar as it could be resolved, but no one wishes to obey. Novus Ordo and Traditionalist pseudo-clergy alike, and that includes Henry who received orders himself from Francis Schuckhardt, cannot, will not, swallow their pride and for the good of the Church, bow their heads to VAS and admit that these bishops and priests are invalid and Antichrist has overcome the saints (Apoc. 13:7). For there is actual infiltration of Traditionalist AND pray-at-home ranks as noted in our articles on the Feeneyites. And some of the sources working behind the scenes to seduce the remnant have proven ties not only to Freemasonry but to Gnosticism, even Satanism. This we also have already covered in previous articles. We beg readers to do the only thing that can be done in this situation, the remedy that was suggested in a previous blog: daily pray the long St. Michael’s Prayer, that the evil spirits who have entered into our midst be expunged.

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The Faith Eclipsed: Beware of LibTrad Robert Robbins

The Faith Eclipsed: Beware of LibTrad Robert Robbins

+Conversion of St. Paul+

A few years ago I posted an article explaining how those out to discredit the work posted to this site operate. Please read it again HERE. For it seems that the efforts of those working to lead others astray has continued and even escalated over the past several months and a review of this article will explain how and why this is happening. Below you will find the response to a comment posted to our Dec. 31 blog by one Rihard, listing as “errors,” excerpts from previous blogs and articles taken completely out of context. Rihard bases his objections on LibTrad Robert Robbins’ comments on blogs and other articles posted to my site in the summer of 2022. At that time, Robbins, presenting as a pray-at-home Catholic, appeared to support this site for several months, but eventually began to attack what was written here when the invalidity of LibTrad pseudo-clergy was first proposed.

One longtime reader, who has asked to remain anonymous, offers this summary of Robbins’ character: “Robbins sure has the ability of using words which to me just confuse. His personal attacks are quite vile. He states in “answering an obvious objection” that he wants to be a leader of The Home Alone Catholics.  He says he can offer instruction for the ignorant. HE claims he has the ability and aptitude to be a “kind of” catechist. He touts his “cum laude” 150 credits, he touts he had near enough credits to earn a minor in theology. Yet, he does not question the professors (Modernists) who taught him his treasured theology. He says he was with seminarians in university,  learning philosophy. So I ask myself, is the unapproved (by a true pope) theology his foundation is based on one to be proud of?”

Rihard’s objections are answered below. The links he provides to Robbins’ “refutations” will not be given here because they are hateful and filled with error themselves.

1) Lack of proof that immediate jurisdiction [from Christ, directly to bishops] is a Protestant heresy

https://www.betrayedcatholics.com/?s=Immediate+jurisdiction

“[Jurisdiction is] the right to guide and rule the Church of God… Jurisdiction is immediate when its possessor stands in direct relation to those with whose oversight he is charged. If, on the other hand, the supreme authority can only deal directly with the proximate superiors, and not with the subjects save through their intervention, his power is not immediate but mediate… It is frequently objected by writers of the Anglican school that, by declaring the pope to possess an immediate episcopal jurisdiction over all the faithful, the Vatican Council destroyed the authority of the diocesan episcopate…Protestant controversialists contend strenuously that the words, “Whatsoever thou shalt bind etc.”, confer no special prerogative on Peter, since precisely the same gift, they allege, is conferred on all the Apostles (Matt., xviii, 18). https://www.catholic.com/encyclopedia/pope

“We say mission is given mediately when we are sent by one who has from God the power of sending according to the order which he has appointed in his Church. Immediate mission is when God himself commands and gives a charge without the interposition of the ordinary authority which he has placed in the prelates and pastors of the church such as Saint Peter and the apostles were sent receiving, from our Lord’s own mouth this commandment” (St. Francis de Sales condemning the Calvinists in his The Catholic Controversy, Ch. 2-3). Robbins, like his LibTrad fellows, tries to pretend that mission and jurisdiction are not the same. And yet this definition tallies exactly with the one from the Catholic Encyclopedia above.

The Latin root of mission is mittere, to send. In his A Commentary on Canon Law, Rev. Charles Augustine comments on Can. 109 as follows: “The missio canonica is necessary for all who are inferior to the Pope. For as the Lord sent His Apostles, so in turn He sent others to exercise their spiritual power with authority, and without such credentials no one has authority in the Church.” The Latin root of jurisdiction means the power, right, or authority (to act) as determined by the law (canonica). This is why jurisdiction is either connected to an office or is delegated by one possessing an office.

In 1786, Pope Pius VI wrote Super Soliditate, condemning Febronianism, Regalism and Josephism: “All the more must be deplored that blind and rash temerity of the man [Eybel] who was eager to renew in his unfortunate book errors which had been condemned by so many decrees; who has said and insinuated indiscriminately by many ambiguities that every Bishop no less than the Pope was called by God to govern the Church and was endowed with no less power; that Christ gave the same power Himself to all the apostles and that whatever some people believe is obtained and granted only by the pope, that very thing, WHETHER IT DEPENDS ON CONSECRATION OR ECCLESIASTICAL JURISDICTION, can be obtained just as well from any bishop …” (DZ 1500).

The Vatican Council teaches: “If anyone shall say that Blessed Peter the Apostle was not constituted by Christ our Lord as chief of all the Apostles and the visible head of the whole Church militant: or that he did not receive directly and immediately from the same Lord Jesus Christ a primacy of true and proper jurisdiction, but one of honor only: let him be anathema.” Clearly this is not said about the bishops, but only the Roman Pontiff.

  • Protestant bishops do not believe that that the Pope is the head of the Church, possessing immediate jurisdiction.
  • They believe instead that their power to operate as pastors comes to them from Christ to the Apostles, whose descendants they are, and that Peter was simply one of the Apostles, not the head of the Church.
  • Therefore they believe, as do Traditionalists, that they possess immediate jurisdiction — that their power to rule comes directly from Christ.

Read Msgr. Fenton on this here: https://www.wmreview.org/p/episcopal-jurisdiction-fenton (but ignore the preface notes about Francis). It is certain from all the above that the idea of immediate mission proceeding directly from Christ was a heresy embraced by Protestants, the Gallicanists, the Josephists, the Regalists and the Febronians. To deny this is to accuse Pope Pius VI, the Vatican Council and Pope Pius XII of promulgating error. These errors are all mentioned in connection with immediate jurisdiction in the Catholic Encyclopedia article linked above.

2)  Contention that: “Ott is not a trustworthy source of theology and should not be used, certainly, in defending truths of faith.”

https://www.betrayedcatholics.com/ludwig-ott-warning-and-jurisdiction-errors-refuted/

Argue with a professor of theology writing before Pope Pius XII died, not with me Rihard. The book review quoted in the link above on Dr. Ott’s work was written by Rev. John J. King, O.M.I., who 1955 became a professor of theology at the Oblate College (Scholasticate) in Washington, D.C. All understand that already, Modernism had made many inroads into the Church by way of such theologians as Ott, who were labeled as doctrinal minimalists by Msgr. Fenton. The review was quite lengthy and went into great detail about other errors in Ott’s work, as well. But these errors were not relevant to the real question at hand: That Ott labels as sententia probabilis the teaching that bishops receive their jurisdiction immediately from the Roman Pontiff, not from Christ Himself, when, as Msgr. Fenton proves, this teaching is sententiae certa — declared by Pope Pius XII to be certain. Pious beliefs and tolerated opinions fall under the sententia probabilis note and have the lowest degree of certainty.

In launching his rabid tangent on my theological incompetence and “errors” regarding Ott in 2022, Robbins was attempting to divert attention from the fact that he was the one who endorsed the teaching of a theologian, already warned against by a theology professor; a theologian who did not accept the certain teaching of the Roman Pontiff. My edition of Ott is a second edition, written in 1959, long after Humani generis taught that infallible statements could be contained in the encyclicals and Ottaviani’s statement on sententiae certa. In this 1959 edition, Ott STILL lists Pius XII’s teaching as sententia probabilis. He heretically states: “Only Popes and bishops possess ecclesiastical jurisdictional power by Divine right,”  when Pius XII says of bishops in Mystici corporis: “Bishops…are not altogether independent, but are subordinate to the lawful authority of the Roman Pontiff, although enjoying the ordinary power of jurisdiction which they receive directly from the same Supreme Pontiff.”

In the forward to this second 1959 Ott edition, Canon James Bastible writes: “The second English edition embodies the many changes made in the second and third German editions… Every effort has been made to eliminate inaccuracies but doubtless some slips have been overlooked in this book with its quarter million words. I shall be very grateful for any help by readers and correcting these in future edition.” Innaccuracies, when Ott is teaching the faithful and seminarians heresy? Because according to Msgr. Fenton, he most certainly was. Msgr. Fenton notes in his “The Doctrinal Authority of Papal Encyclicals, Pt. II” (Sept. 1949, AER):

“[Ottaviani] tells us [that] up until the present time this thesis had been considered as more probable and even as sententia communis [common opinion of theologians] but that from now on it is to be held as entirely certain by reason of the words of the present Holy Father… 

Monsignor Ottaviani [pro-secretary of the Holy Office under Pius XII-Ed.] assumes rightly that the authoritative statement of this thesis in the papal letter raises this teaching from the status of a more probable doctrine to that of a perfectly certain proposition. This observation on the part of Monsignor Ottaviani constitutes a valuable, practical corrective to a certain tendency towards oversimplification and MINIMALISM which had begun to invade some recent judgments on the doctrinal authority of the… encyclical letters.

“Thus it would seem that some teachings whose main claim to acceptance on the part of Catholics is to be found in the fact that they are stated in papal encyclicals would actually demand an assent higher than that which must be accorded to the content of the Church’s authentic but non-infallible magisterium. Such truths would demand the kind of assent usually designated in theology under the title of FIDES ECCLESIASTICA…” (Doctrinal Authority in the Encyclicals, Pt. II, AER, 1949. Please see also the link to Msgr. Fenton’s article above on episcopal jurisdiction).

“If that supreme power is exercised within the field of dogma itself, that is, by declaring that some particular truth has been revealed by God and is to be accepted by all men as a part of revelation,” Fenton continues, “then the assent called for by the definition is that of divine faith itself. If on the other hand, the Holy Father, using his supreme apostolic authority, does not propose his teaching as a dogma, but merely as completely certain, then the faithful are bound to accept his teaching as absolutely certain. They are, in either case, obliged in conscience to give an unconditional and absolutely irrevocable assent to any proposition defined in this way” (“Infallibility in the Encyclicals,” (AER, March 1953). Humani Generis closes all discussion on such issues. We refer you to the chart below, (On the Value of Theological Notes and the Criteria for Discerning Them by Father Sixtus Cartechini S.J., Rome, 1951 — a work which was drafted for use by auditors of the Roman Congregations):

b) Theological Note:  Doctrine of ecclesiastical faith
Equivalent term:  De fide ecclesiastica definita 
Explanation:  A truth not directly revealed by God but closely connected with Divine revelation and infallibly proposed by the Magisterium. 
Example:  The lawfulness of communion under one kind.
Censure attached to contradictory proposition:  Heresy against ecclesiastical faith.
Effects of denial:  Mortal sin directly against faith, and, if publicly professed, automatic excommunication and forfeiture of membership of Church. 
Remarks:  It is a dogma that the Church’s infallibility extends to truths in this sphere, so one who denies them denies implicitly a dogma or Divine faith. 

Is it just a coincidence that Ott is the “go to” source for Traditionalists, especially the Society of St. Pius X? This when there are so many other good sources (Tanquerey, Berry, Van Noort, Herve) to consult. So if those believing Robbins wish to content themselves with defending the teaching of someone who promotes heresy — and continues to teach as well that Traditional bishops are valid that is their problem. But don’t accuse me of error in protecting my readers from people who brazenly show their contempt for the faith.

3) Contention that marriages before non-Catholic ministers are not sacramental

https://www.betrayedcatholics.com/fools-professing-to-be-wise-and-attempted-marriage-clarified/

I am not going to repeat myself on this. It is Canon Law, plain and simple, a negatively infallible legal decision. You either accept what the Church teaches or you don’t. What is it about this clearly stated canon you don’t understand, or wish to obey? “Those marriages only are valid which are contracted either before a pastor or the local Ordinary or a priest delegated by either and at least two witnesses…” (unless Can. 1098 is invoked). Show me how and where the Church teaches otherwise, from Her own documents, as the scholastic method and Canon Law demands. The remedy for an invalid LibTrad marriage is simple: cite Can. 1098 and renew the marriage vows. It appears to me you prefer not to accept the clear words of the Popes OR Canon Law. Readers need only re-read the proofs provided in the link above. The regurgitation of all these objections is really about the fact that Robbins refuses to accept Pope Pius XII’s Vacantis Apostolicae Sedis and Canon Law, which proves all LibTrad pseudo-clergy are invalid, meaning all their attempted acts were invalid as well.

4) The view that Catechism is not enough for defense of truths of Faith for lay people

https://www.betrayedcatholics.com/why-the-catechism-alone-will-definitely-not-save-your-soul-2/

Why did Pope St. Pius X teach in Acerbo nimis: “The task of the catechist is to take up one or other of the truths of faith or of Christian morality and then explain it in all its parts; and since amendment of life is the chief aim of his instruction, the catechist must needs make a comparison between what God commands us to do and what is our actual conduct. After this, he will use examples appropriately taken from the Holy Scriptures, Church history, and the lives of the saints – thus moving his hearers and clearly pointing out to them how they are to regulate their own conduct. He should, in conclusion, earnestly exhort all present to dread and avoid vice and to practice virtue… If faith languishes in our days, if among large numbers it has almost vanished, the reason is that the duty of catechetical teaching is either fulfilled very superficially or altogether neglected… The catechetical instruction shall be based on the Catechism of the Council of Trent,” (End of quote. And that of Trent is no ordinary catechism, but one which is detailed and would take a good deal of time to course through, if all topics would be covered). Clearly Robbins is not qualified as a catechist.

The grade school and even adult catechisms available today scarcely explain the text the way the catechist is required to explain and amplify it, and are no substitute for personal catechetical instruction, especially of adults. The Baltimore and Penny Catechisms may convey the basics, but many editions are incomplete because they have not incorporated the later teachings of the Roman Pontiffs reigning in the 20th century. Acerbo nimis was written in 1905, so how would the faithful have even known about the dangers of Modernism if relying on Rev. Thomas Kinkead’s catechism (the most reliable), written in the 1800s, or the Council of Trent catechism, from the 16th century?!  If catechism was enough, why were Catholics urged to join Catholic Action groups to receive special training in promoting the faith? Why was the Catholic Evidence Guild established? Is continuing education required in many academic fields? Then why not our holy Catholic religion, which far exceeds any secular institution?!

In the 1957 work, A Call to the Laity, Abp. Richard Cushing writes: “The hour has come for us to cease to expect a child’s study of a child’s catechism to give adults an appreciation of an essentially intellectual religion. The effort to attain the intellectual vision, the clear thinking and the moral integrity for which the Holy Father calls can be based only on a systematic study by the laity of the principles of justice and charity as they apply to modern problems of life and thought “(pg. 28). In other words, you don’t take a knife to a gunfight, and this is a battle of major proportions, not High Noon. Robbins should stop pandering to his own opinions and instead follow the hierarchy and the popes.

Rihard writes: “I add some of my personal observations, based on those previous points:

I looked at what Teresa Benns quoted ( https://www.betrayedcatholics.com/free-content/reference-links/6-traditionalists/why-traditionalist-clerics-never-received-valid-orders/)  Canon 118 in the book of Canon Law: “Clerics only can obtain either the power of orders or that of ecclesiastical jurisdiction” (Can. 118). None of us are canon lawyers. However, this canon is included in the section “The Rights and Privileges of Clerics.” This means that the legislator in this canon most likely wanted to emphasize that only clerics can rightly (licitly) receive the power of orders. In my opinion, what is not meant by this canon is that those who are not clerics (clergy) cannot validly, albeit illegally, receive Orders.”

T. Benns: Your personal observation is wrong because you do not consider here Can. 108 or Can. 111. Under the heading “Laws Concerning the Clergy,” we read (Woywod-Smith commentary): “Those who have been assigned to the divine ministry at least by the first tonsure are called clerics” (Can. 108). Only clerics can proceed to the other orders. This two-part requirement distinguishes a cleric from a layperson. Who regularly assigns men to the divine ministry? Valid and licit bishops. “Every cleric must belong either to some diocese or to some religious organization and no recognition may be extended to vagrant clerics. By reception of first tonsure a cleric is ascribed to…the diocese for the service of which he was promoted,” (Can. 111; also the Council of Trent, Sess. 23, Ch. 16). “Only clerics can obtain the power of either orders or ecclesiastical jurisdiction…” (Can. 118). Tonsure or some valid order is, by ecclesiastical law, a prerequisite for the VALIDITYof any office” (“Canon Law: A Text and Commentary,” Revs. T. Lincoln-Bouscaren and Adam Ellis, (Can. I09, 118).

Again, I refuse to repeat myself here. I may not be a lay canon lawyer (although there were such lawyers in the Church pre-1959) but I can read and understand what the popes, Canon Law and approved authors clearly teach. The links HERE and HERE prove these men could never have become clerics.

5) Calling potentially dangerous Covid-19 substances vaccines

https://www.betrayedcatholics.com/may-the-lord-god-bless-you-and-keep-you/

“Everywhere in your blog articles and comments you call potentially dangerous Covid-19 substances vaccines… It is the safer course not to call potentially dangerous substances what they are not. (He calls them biological weapons, which may well be true)… This has also led you to believe that “Covid-19 vaccines” are not a matter (question) of Revelation and the mark of the beast although I believe the exact opposite…” https://dabasvide.wordpress.com/2022/02/08/zvera-zime/.

This objection has nothing to do with infallible teaching or the invalidity of LibTrad pseudo-clergy. First, this is a matter of opinion, not Catholic belief. I can diverge in my opinion on this if I choose, and I have good reasons for doing so. Secondly, not everything available in the alternative media is necessarily true; much is speculation which has resulted in media hysteria. Thirdly, the Church teaches we are not to assign a literal interpretation to the Book of Apocalypse since it is to be interpreted spiritually or symbolically. We are talking here about what the CHURCH says, not what I say. The primary interpretation — that the mark is a false sort of Baptism — must remain spiritual. And if the Church teaches it, and She does, then we cannot deny that. This is what I actually said: “There is nothing that says that the successors of Antichrist might not also promote some identification sign that must be received on the hand or forehead that would mark citizens in a way that could determine whether they buy or sell, but this is only a material extenuation of the spiritual reality.” The same goes for “vaccines.”

Conclusion

A little history and background information needs to be considered here. Robbins is a former member of the Novus Ordo sect, the Recognize and Resist group and the Sedevacantist sect operating St. Gertrude the Great in Ohio. The argument with Robbins began with a telephone conversation the summer of 2022 where I told him I believed I could prove LibTrad pseudo-clergy are invalid. He objected, saying I could never overcome the epikeia principle (when this is denounced unanimously by theologians as a principle that cannot be used in this situation). I sent him a rough draft of my work, but obviously he never accepted what I wrote.

He continued to make email statements such as: “I am asking for some kind of source to back up the claim that the idea that jurisdiction is unmediated by the Roman Pontiff is Gallicanism, and that Gallicanism (so defined) is heresy.” Really? And this from a self-professed (almost) minor in theology? Gallicanism was condemned as an error prior to the Vatican Council. As I have stated repeatedly, it was considered a heresy once the definition of the primacy was issued, and this from Henry Cardinal Manning and the Catholic Encyclopedia. And he cannot research these things for himself?!

When I refused to admit I had “erred” in calling immediate jurisdiction a Protestant heresy, he wrote: “Your claim that immediate jurisdiction is a Protestant heresy has not been proven. Yet that claim sits on my website garnering sneers and snickers…” So he is concerned not about the truth here, but about human respect. He admits the pope now possesses immediate jurisdiction over bishops, (but still holds it as only a probable opinion) writing, based on Ott and his own perceptions: “What you suggest, that it is heresy, is (a) not proven, and (b) absurd if coupled with the historical fact that it [the idea that bishops possessed immediate jurisdiction] was never condemned by the Church. It is not my fancy to go and argue every little point of theology, asking innumerable questions that do not get anyone closer to holiness, but rather inflame egos and puff up chests.” So if he doesn’t care to “argue every little point of theology,” what was all the ruckus about my classification of immediate jurisdiction as a Protestant heresy?! This is sheer hypocrisy.

Robbins clearly did not understand that once a matter IS decided by the pope, and that matter is related to a matter pertaining to divine revelation (how Christ transmitted jurisdiction), then yes, it becomes a heresy to say it is only a probable opinion! The matter of immediate jurisdiction from Christ to the pope, then the Apostles, was a common opinion even before Pope Pius XII made his decision, and I have documented this. That it was a dangerous one given the fact that Protestants and previous heretics claimed it also has been demonstrated, which is most likely why Pius XII decided as he did. That Robbins calls it “a little point of theology” given the fact that LibTrad pseudo-clergy (Cekada, CMRI) use it to justify their revolting simulation of the Sacraments and seduction of “Catholics” is the true absurdity here and amounts to the error of the minimalism Pope Pius XII condemned in Humani generis. As proven above, it is indeed a heresy now to deny that the pope possesses immediate jurisdiction.

He obviously hopes to so cloud the issues that readers such as Rihard are unable to sift the flyspeck from the proverbial pepper, as the reader notes above in our opening paragraphs. It appears he had the intention of alienating readers of this site to claim them for his own. And when this failed, and he could not generate the readership or revenue he had hoped for, he archived his site. His obvious trigger point — which reveals his true identity — is the invalidity of Trad pseudo-clergy. And he denies this fact despite the teachings of the popes, councils, canonists, theologians and St. Thomas Aquinas, dismissing Pope Pius XII’s infallible Vacantis Apostolicae Sedis as only “ecclesiastical” law.

Robbins can spew his hate-filled invective and self-serving verbiage all he wants, but he cannot change the fact that Traditionalist orders are invalid. He may try to pass himself off as a pray-at-home Catholic, but readers must not be fooled. These proofs of invalidity are what he, the recusants and other LibTrads fear the most, because it entirely unravels the premises on which Traditionalists founded their multi-fractured movement. THAT is what this persistent noise and these specious accusations are REALLY all about.

According to St. Robert Bellarmine, persecution is the fifth mark of the Church. Those praying at home have been shamefully betrayed in many ways by those pretending to be one of their own. I count myself honored and privileged to experience in some small way the same type of betrayal Our Lord Himself endured, praying only: “Forgive them, Father, for they know not what they do.” Or do they???

1917 Code of Canon Law: “Traditional” clergy are invalid

1917 Code of Canon Law: “Traditional” clergy are invalid © Copyright 2024, T. Stanfill Benns (All emphasis within quotes added by the author) Introduction The “Catholic restoration” crowd, now working under the umbrella of an organization known as the ISOC, have...