Father Fessio,SJ of Ignatius Press has proposed this thought experiment. Let us say that Pope Francis were to get married and announce that the Muslims were correct all along, and there is no God but Allah. Would he cease to be Pope? Considering out current hapless bench of Bishops, better questions might be how many Bishops would remain totally silent and how many Bishops would be singing the praises of the Pope for his brilliant development of the Christian faith?
Prior to the current Pontificate I would have regarded Father Fessio’s hypothetical as absurd. Now, nothing, up to and including a Pope proclaiming himself a Satanist or an atheist, would surprise me.
“Now, nothing, up to and including a Pope proclaiming himself a Satanist or an atheist, would surprise me.”
Yes, exactly correct. And the Bishops and Cardinals, what would they do? Why, of course, most of they would go along or say the Pope was being poetic or had misspoken. Having lost their faith faith protecting their job is #1.
But what about us. What would we do? My guess is that most Catholics would go along with the Pope (?).
I wanna play too; Suppose for a moment that the Pope was Catholic and worked for the goal of salvation of souls. He might set up great theories about defending the one True Faith and work hard at expelling false shepherds from Holy Church. Homosexuality within the Catholic clergy would be verboten. He would continue to make progress in the momentum of his two predecessors by aligning himself with two thousand years of orthodoxy and never fold into the cult of public fashion, opinion or persuasion.
He would defend Holy Catholic Church and her teachings, not water them down with feelings and leave the future of people’s souls in their own hands telling them to go with their own conscience.
He would be a teacher of Truth.
Oh well. I’m tired now. Gonna go back to reality and see what new damage the Pope is up to. Hello China.
….reality check;
https://panamazonsynodwatch.com/the-amazon-synod-and-the-vaticans-radical-environmentalism/
I started to read that article Phil but once I came upon the word ‘environment’ I decided not to ruin a perfectly great Sunday 🙂 Thanks for the contribution of the link however!
[…] ON THE OPEN LETTER: I AGREE IT’S A MESS, I’M JUST NOT SURE OF THIS ‘VEHICLE,’ TO PROMOTE CHANGE FOR THE GOOD, […]
Hypotheticals are part of Fr. Luis de Molina’s (SJ) “Middle Knowledge,” that God knows about everything that could possibly happen. If we believe in the “many worlds/many minds” interpretation of quantum mechanics, then all hypotheticals are manifested in a possible universe. And that’s my crazy thought for today.
In place of the purebred Shepherd’s dogs, a pack of stray mongrels slipped into the episcopal sees – no wonder they are wandering around the rubbish bins (eco-friendly) instead of fighting against the cones of Satan who have settled in the Vatican.
Petty, ill-educated conformists in mitre on their heads: there is not a single bishop in the whole Roman Catholic church to call down God’s anathema on this infernal company that occupies the Vatican and is leading the poor souls to perdition – even this seemingly militant Kazakh bishop Athanasius Schneider tilted his tail in the confrontation with Bergoglio during his ad limina visit in March.
What is happening now in the Roman Catholic church is not a crisis, but a breakthrough. God the Father heard prayers addressed to Him for two millennia, and therefore the Lord Jesus now leads His flock to the God’s Kingdom on earth. Times are as critical as when Noah was loading the ark, or Moses went out with Israel from Egypt, or finally when the Holy Savior brought His church out of the synagogue of Satan. Rome has lost faith (Notre Dame in La Salette, 1846) and therefore is doomed.
Fr. Fessio’s posing of this question hits the mark. Those who think this would be a bridge too far demonstrate that a pope can fall into heresy & from office. We Catholics remain in union w the See of Peter during times of unworthy or anti-popes.
OC.
Understood.
Sorry for tempting you into depression.
What a glorious day in Northern Michigan.
Sunny and 65°. Our first warm weekend of this Spring.
“…Let us say that Pope Francis were to get married…”
Would like to meet the girl that goes for that. On second thought, skip it.
[…] Dust or Humus? The Advent of Human Composting – John M. Grondelski, Ph.D., at Crisis Magazine Thought Experiment by Fr. Joseph Fessio, S.J., on Pope Francis & Heresy – Donald R. McClarey, J.D., at TACatholic The Devout & the Nones – Mark Movsesian […]
Let’s be honest. If Pope Chastisement were honest, he would no longer be the pope. The hypothetical is only slightly off.
Yes – the bishops can declare the pope to have deposed himself – this is a finding of fact and then a handful of bishops can elect a new pope.
This “thought experiment” is based on a false premise to begin with: that Bergolio is the Pope.
Fatima: Please enlighten me. Where in the CCL does it say a Pope can be deposed—I.e., removed from his office and from Rome, and then be replaced by another?
Madmagyar, : The Pope’s election was valid unless it is shown that it isn’t. Until now nothing of the sort has surfaced to the point of an illicit election. The Pope certainly has a myriad of questionable quotes surrounding him but that doesn’t discount him as Pope. It makes him a pope a lot of people don’t like that’s all.
“Now, nothing, up to and including a Pope proclaiming himself a Satanist or an atheist, would surprise me.”
Actually, it would surprise me that he would come out and proclaim it. If you notice, the pope is always just vague enough to avoid technical heresy. This, in my view, is far more dangerous than if he came right out as a clear heretic. The pope’s detractors, including the 19 signatories to the Easter letter, underestimate his slyness to their own peril.
I don’t always agree with Phillip Lawler, but I think his take on the letter is spot on.
https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/otn.cfm?id=1344