POPE FRANCIS: Pope or Antipope? Schismatic and Heretic?

Unpopular tho' it may be with some of my readers, AMEN! 'When are we going to start praying for the Pope, instead of cursing him?' I do every day for his return to the Faith.

From Toronto Catholic Witness

By Barona

Contrary to fantastical proclamations by neo-protestants claiming to be Catholics, Pope Francis remains the Pope. I say neo-protestants, for these uneducated and very dangerous people are taking upon themselves Authority they do NOT have. The Catholic Church, whether these neo-protestants like it or not, is a Monarchy. Jesus Christ is the King and Head of His Church. He decided to institute a Hierarchy, and for this same Hierarchy to transmit Spiritual Authority. He also placed a visible head, His Vicar at the head of His Hierarchy. In an age of "democracy", "liberty", "freedom", "individualism", this is a hard concept to grasp, but it must be, if one wishes to remain Catholic.

I have warned readers several times over the past few years that the temptation to schismatic dissent will intensify as the crisis in Rome grows darker. However, I for one, will not wonder off to some Synagogue of Satan. Nor do I intend to leave the Church secretly, in my heart, yet play the lie that I am still Catholic before my friends and associates. I recall speaking with a friend a few months ago whom I had not spoken with for several years. He informed me that though the Pope was not the Pope, he attended a parish that was in union with "Antipope" Francis. When I asked him why he attended a parish that was in union with an "Antipope", and received Holy Communion at a Mass offered for this same "Antipope" he had no answer, other than "Jesus permits it", and going on about a so-called "private revelation" he had heard about. Absolute rubbish and damnable heresy! 

The Church is visible, is She not? 

The Church is hierarchical, is She not? 

We have a Pope, do we not? 

Ah, the Pope is a "heretic" our neo-protestant self-declared theologians proclaim (now there is a sure sign of the protestant spirit!). It is "manifest", "obvious".  

Manifest to whom? Obvious to whom? 

Who will judge what is "manifest" and "obvious"? 

From where will these self-appointed judges receive their Authority?

No these people are just trying to excuse their grave sin of schism (which always leads straight to heresy) by breaking Catholic Unity. 

Let us refer once again to the writings of the Abbe de Nantes, who reviewed the various theses as to the possibility of an heretical Pope: 

" Papa hæreticus depositus est… A heretical Pope is deposed. ” This is the solution advocated by Robert Bellarmine in the heyday of the Counter-Reformation. “ Heresy being a form of spiritual death, a withdrawal from the Church, any Pope who should fall into heresy, would find himself ipso facto cut off from the Church. He is, by this very fact, deposed. He ceases to occupy the Apostolic See of his own accord. ” This theory was well adapted to an epoch when everyone clearly distinguished the Catholic Faith from error.

 What neither Suarez nor Bellarmine could have foreseen, is that a time would come when evolutionism and subjectivism would spread such darkness in people’s minds that it would be impossible for them to immediately identify heresy, particularly in the private doctrines of a pope. Given the current confusion, in which Protestant private judgement is further complicated by Modernist immanentism, if we were to accept this solution, anyone might declare the Pope a heretic according to his own private whim and conclude that, as far as his own direction was concerned, there was no longer any pope. ” (CRC no. 30, March 1970, p. 7) Thus, the theologian of the Catholic Counter-Reformation was of the opinion that this solution would be impracticable as it would have no effect other than to cause confusion and lead to contesting any Pope whoever he might be.

“ Papa haereticus deponendus est, a heretical Pope must be deposed. ” This is the solution proposed by Cardinal Cajetan and other theologians. It implies two important consequences. “ If it so happens that a Pope is a heretic, he must be deposed for him to cease being the Pope. Furthermore, the person who accuses the Pope of heresy must not leave it at that, but must ask for the legal process for his deposition to be undertaken, since he cannot make a universally and immediately executory decision of his personal judgement. ” (CRC no. 69, June 1973, p. 10)

This is a wise solution, yet it raises further questions, in particular, who will judge the Pope  ? Cajetan’s answer is unsatisfactory. He maintains that in undertaking such a process of deposition of a heretical Pope, the Church is not in fact passing a verdict on the offender, but is merely bringing him to the attention of the Sovereign Judge Who is God Himself. “ It is hard to see just what Cajetan had in mind, ” Fr. de Nantes comments. “ He is in an obvious dilemma. We are left only with the idea that any ecclesiastical tribunal in such a trial would be competent merely to institute proceedings, but not to pass sentence. "

We are left with the solution that the Pope short of defecting from the Catholic Faith, by declaring his intent to leave the Church, remains Pope. It remains to a future Pope and Council the question of a previous Pope's heresy and/or being an Antipope. 

Whatever Francis may or may not have done can in no way be compared to iniquity of the High Priest Caiaphas, who orchestrated the greatest Crime in human history, the crime of Deicide, who committed the gravest sin of denying the Divinity of Our Lord. Did Jesus depose Caiaphas? No, He allowed Himself to condemned by the "Pope" of the Jewish Church, to be Crucified in obedience to His Father. When on the Cross did He succumb to the jeers of the Jews to come down from the Cross? No, He remained faithful even when it was most painful to do so. 

We too must imitate Christ. Anything less is to re-crucify Him ourselves. 

Father forgive them for they now not what they do, He prayed. 

Can we do any less? 

When are we going to start praying for the Pope, instead of cursing him?