Can the Pope be a heretic?
On 1st May 2011, Benedict XVI beatified John Paul II who marked an apostatical path in the very Church. By this gesture of his, Benedict XVI elevated to the altar of the Church the programme of heretical syncretism of John Paul II. On 1st May 2011, the Byzantine Catholic Patriarchate made it public that both these Popes fell out of the Church owing to their apostasy. As from 1st May 2011, the Church is in a sedes vacantis state. Benedict XVI occupies the papal office unlawfully. A heretic cannot be a Pope. Benedict XVI is a Pope no longer.
What is the position of Church Tradition?
Doctor of the Church, St. Robert Bellarmine:
“The Pope who is manifestly a heretic ceases by himself (ipso facto) to be Pope and head, in the same way as he ceases to be a Christian and a member of the body of the Church; and for this reason he can be judged and punished by the Church. This is the opinion of all the ancient Fathers, who teach that manifest heretics immediately lose all jurisdiction.
The non-Christian cannot in any way be Pope. … This principle is most certain. The reason for this is that he cannot be head of what he is not a member; now he who is not a Christian is not a member of the Church, and a manifest heretic is not a Christian, as is clearly taught by St. Cyprian, St. Athanasius, St. Augustine, St. Jerome and others; therefore the manifest heretic cannot be Pope.” (Note: By the elevation of the spirit of Assisi – the spirit of antichrist – to the altar of the Church, Pope Benedict XVI excommunicated himself from the Mystical Body of Christ.)
St. Anthony: “In the case in which the Pope would become a heretic, he would find himself, by that fact alone (ipso facto), separated from the Church. A head separated from a body cannot, as long as it remains separated, be head of the same body from which it was cut off. A pope who would be separated from the Church by heresy, therefore, would by that very fact itself cease to be head of the Church. He could not be a heretic and remain pope.”
Doctor of the Church, St. Alphonsus Liguori (1787): “If God were to permit a pope to become a heretic, he would by such fact cease to be pope, and the apostolic chair would be vacant.” (Note: the current situation in the Church – sedes vacantis.)
“If ever a Pope, as a private person, should fall into heresy, he should at once fall from the Pontificate.”
Doctor of the Church, St. Francis de Sales (17th century): “… when the Pope is explicitly a heretic, he falls ipso facto from his dignity and out of the Church.” (Note: publication of posthumous excommunication of John Paul II on the day of pseudo beatification)
Catholic Encyclopaedia 1914 (Vol. 11, p. 456): “Of course, the election of a heretic, schismatic, or female [as Pope] would be null and void.”
Code of Canon Law 1917 (Canon 188.4): “If a cleric (pope, bishop, etc.) becomes a heretic, he loses his office without any declaration by operation of law.” (Note: ex-Card. Husar and apostatical hierarchy)
Leo XIII., Satis cognitum, 29th June 1896: “There can be nothing more dangerous than those heretics who admit nearly the whole cycle of doctrine, and yet by one word, as with a drop of poison, infect the real and simple faith taught by our Lord and handed down by Apostolic tradition.”
Conclusion:
Statements by Doctors and Saints of the Church exactly grasp the current issue of heresies and their impact on the Church hierarchy. Saint Anthony and Bellarmine emphasize that if the Pope embraces heresy, he ceases to be the Pope without the need of it being declared!
On behalf of the Byzantine Catholic Patriarchate
elaborated by
+ Methodius OSBMr + Timothy OSBMr
Secretary Bishops of the BCP
