Editor’s Note: When a Pope or Church Council defines a matter of Faith, it is the truth for all time. As we saw in Part 2, the objection is raised: But if a later pope contradicts what was defined by an earlier pope, can you go wrong following the later pope?
What the Saints and Councils Tell Us
Of course, the first thing we must do is to determine if the later pope – or even the current pope – really said something that explicitly contradicts the solemn infallible teaching of an earlier pope. But if in fact he has, then the later pope is wrong. The reason is that the role of the Pope is not to invent new doctrine, not to teach new doctrine, but to hand on the Deposit of Faith revealed by God, and to defend and to explain the Deposit of Faith. The First Vatican Council teaches:
“And the Roman pontiffs, according to the exigencies of times and circumstances, sometimes assembling oecumenical councils, or asking for the mind of the Church scattered throughout the world, sometimes by particular synods, sometimes using other helps which divine Providence supplied, defined as to be held those things which with the help of God they had recognized as conformable with the Sacred Scriptures and Apostolic traditions. For the Holy Spirit was not promised to the successors of Peter, that by His revelation they might make known new doctrine, but that by His assistance they might inviolably keep and faithfully expound the revelation or deposit of faith delivered through the Apostles.”[9] (D.S. 3069-3070)
So, once a pope has taught that something is part of the Deposit of Faith, we know that it is indeed the Truth that God Himself has revealed.
And since the first quality of truth is that it cannot contradict itself, we therefore know that a later pope cannot come along and teach a new doctrine. If he did, the new doctrine cannot be true, because it is contrary to what God taught and confirmed by the earlier definition.
So there cannot be a “living Magisterium” that can come along and teach a new doctrine in God’s name. Because God is the author of Truth and not falsehood. And God cannot and would not teach a lie to be the truth, nor could God command someone to believe a lie. Nor would God authorize – or even pretend to authorize – someone to teach a lie as if it were the truth.
Thus, such “living Magisterium” is attempting to steal teaching authority from God, and usurping the true, the real, the actual Magisterium.
Now the real scandal is that today there are high-ranking churchmen even in the Vatican who teach heresy and who falsely claim it is the truth and claim it is what the Catholic Church officially, magisterially teaches. But they are still teaching heresy. We know this because we know by divine and Catholic Faith that even a pope cannot change Catholic dogma. We know that because we have the solemn, infallible definition of the First Vatican Council which reads:
“Therefore, faithfully adhering to the tradition received from the beginning of the Christian faith, for the glory of God our Savior, the exaltation of the Catholic religion, and the salvation of the Christian people, with the approval of the sacred council, We teach and define that it is a dogma divinely revealed: that the Roman Pontiff, when he speaks ex cathedra, that is, when, in discharge of the office of pastor and teacher of all Christians, by virtue of his supreme Apostolic authority, he defines a doctrine regarding faith or morals to be held by the universal Church, is, by the divine assistance promised to him in Blessed Peter, possessed of that infallibility with which the divine Redeemer willed that His Church should be endowed in defining doctrine regarding faith or morals; and that, therefore, such definitions of the Roman Pontiff are of themselves, and not from the consent of the Church, irreformable. But if anyone – which may God avert! – presume to contradict this our definition, let him be anathema.”[10] (D.S. 3073-3075)
Since dogmatic definitions are infallible – that is, since they cannot fail to explicitly enumerate what is the precise truth that God Himself is endorsing, guaranteeing – then such definitions cannot be changed, cannot be reformed. They are irreformable. They cannot be reformed by a priest, a bishop, a Cardinal, a whole Council or even by the Pope himself – the present one or any future pope. This is what the Church teaches. If a person does not believe this, he is no longer a Catholic – he has been cut off, excommunicated, put out of the Church by his heresy.
So you can see we need to recover the dogmatic definitions of the Catholic Church. We must recover them in our minds and our hearts and in our daily thinking, speaking and actions. We must hold onto our Faith whole and entire. We must not allow ourselves to lose our dogmatic Catholic Faith even if priests, bishops and Cardinals claim that the Pope agrees with them. Even should a pope contradict the Faith, we must take the attitude taught us by the Catholic Church of all ages. We must follow what the Doctors of the Church have taught. These Doctors were promoted as Doctors because the Church tells us their doctrine is certain; that we are secure in following their teaching.
St. Robert Bellarmine, Doctor of the Church, taught in his work on the Roman Pontiff, even the Pope may be rebuked and resisted if he threatens harm to the Church:
“Just as it is licit to resist the Pontiff that aggresses the body, it is also licit to resist the one who aggresses souls or who disturbs civil order, or, above all, who attempts to destroy the Church. I say that it is licit to resist him by not doing what he orders and by preventing his will from being executed; it is not licit, however, to judge, punish or depose him, since these acts are proper to a superior.”[11]
Likewise, the eminent Sixteenth Century theologian Francisco Suarez (whom Pope Paul V praised as Doctor Eximius et Pius, i.e. “Exceptional and Pious Doctor”) taught as follows:
“And in this second way the Pope could be schismatic, if he were unwilling to be in normal union with the whole body of the Church, as would occur if he attempted to excommunicate the whole Church, or, as both Cajetan and Torquemada observe, if he wished to overturn the rites of the Church based on Apostolic Tradition. … If [the Pope] gives an order contrary to right customs (morals), he should not be obeyed; if he attempts to do something manifestly opposed to justice and the common good, it will be lawful to resist him; if he attacks by force, by force he can be repelled, with a moderation appropriate to a just defense.”[12]
Even the Pope may legitimately be resisted when he takes actions that would harm the Church. Quite simply, as Pope St. Felix III declared: “Not to oppose error is to approve it; and not to defend truth is to suppress it.” Members of the laity and lower-ranking clergy are not exempt from that injunction. All the members of the Church are subject to it. We thus have a duty to speak out.
St. Thomas stated that if the faith is in danger because of what a bishop or even a pope says, the prelate must be rebuked in public to safeguard the faith. Basing himself in Sacred Scripture – Galatians 2:11 – St. Thomas Aquinas, the greatest Doctor of the Church, says:
“It must be observed, however, that if the faith were endangered, a subject ought to rebuke his prelate even publicly. Hence Paul, who was Peter’s subject, rebuked him in public, on account of the imminent danger of scandal concerning faith, and, as the gloss of Augustine says on Galatians 2:11, ‘Peter gave an example to superiors, that if at any time they should happen to stray from the straight path, they should not disdain to be reproved by their subjects.’”[13]
We must preserve the dogmas of the Faith. In the great Apostasy, a great number of people lose their path because they do not preserve the dogma of the Faith sacrosanct in their minds, hearts and souls.
Let us also not forget to take heed to Our Lord Jesus Christ’s words to Sister Lucia of Fatima:
“Pray a great deal for the Holy Father”.
END NOTES
[9] Vatican Council I, First Dogmatic Constitution on the Church of Christ, July 18, 1870. Taken from the book Dogmatic Canons and Decrees, (TAN Books and Publishers) p. 254.
[10] Vatican Council I, First Dogmatic Constitution on the Church of Christ, July 18, 1870. From Dogmatic Canons and Decrees, pp. 256-257.
[11] De Romano Pontifice, lib. II, Chap. 29, in Opera Omnia, Neapoli/Panormi/Paris: Pedone Lauriel, 1871, vol. I, p. 418.
[12] Francisco Suarez, De Fide, Disp. X, Sec. VI, N. 16.
[13] St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica, Pt. II-II, Q. 33, Art. 4, Ad. 2.