There is a mountain of evidence to prove that the post-conciliar popes, including the current occupant of the Vatican, have persistently and publicly professed heresy by word and deed. Beginning with the apostasy of John XXIII, they have worked tirelessly to destroy the Church from within through numerous heretical teachings, drastic changes to the liturgy, false ecumenism, interreligious dialogue, and promotion and defense of the disastrous Vatican II revolution. But a pope cannot be a heretic. Have the gates of Hell prevailed?
Since Our Lord is faithful and will fulfill His promises, the Church is indefectible and must endure until the end of time. We must ask ourselves, “What, then, is the logical explanation for the situation in the Church?” It is a fact that a pope cannot be a public or manifest heretic. He cannot officially teach false doctrines and approve sinful practices. Someone who is not a Catholic cannot be the head of the Church.
God knows all things and foresaw that Vatican II would put the faith of millions of Catholics in great danger. Therefore, nearly one hundred years earlier, in 1870, papal infallibility was proclaimed a dogma of the faith in order that Catholics might be guided through the horrific storms of Vatican II. The Council Fathers at Vatican I refuted every attack against papal infallibility made by the liberals. Never had a single pope officially taught error in a matter of faith and morals to the universal Church. If someone claiming to be pope publicly professes heresy by word or action, we know with certainty that he is an imposter and a false pope. According to Pope Leo XIII, “If the living Magisterium [the teaching authority of the Church] could in any way be false, an evident contradiction follows; for then God Himself would be the Author of error.”
In its Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, Vatican I taught, “In [the papacy], the Catholic religion has always been kept unsullied, and its teachings kept holy... This See of St. Peter [the papacy] always remains unsullied, and its teachings kept holy, according to the divine promise of our Lord and Savior... in order that... [the popes] might perform their supreme office for the salvation of all; that by them the whole flock might be kept away from the poison of error and be nourished by the food of heavenly doctrine...
Our Lord told the Apostles, “As the Father has sent Me, I also send you.” “He who hears you, hears Me, and he who rejects you, rejects Me.” From Christ’s expressed promises it is evident that the attribute of infallibility was given to the pope and the Church so that they can carry out their mission to teach the eternal truths and to lead souls to salvation.
There is sufficient evidence to prove that before their elections, John XXIII, Paul VI, John Paul I, John Paul II, Benedict XVI, and Francis I were Modernists and had departed from the Catholic faith. Several were Masons and Communists. Since they publicly professed anti-Catholic Modernist doctrines, they proved themselves to be heretics that automatically nullified their elections. By divine law they were ineligible to be elected because a Modernist pope is no pope.
Fr. Martin Stepanich said, “If it is true, as some theologians reasonably maintain, that a true pope, one validly elected, cannot become a heretic, because of special divine protection, and cannot for that reason fall from the papacy, then the only logical conclusion to draw is that a heretic occupying the Chair of Peter was a heretic already before being elected, and could therefore not have been a legitimate candidate for election to the papacy to begin with.”
In 1559, shortly after Luther’s revolution, Pope Paul IV feared that a Protestant might be elected to the papacy. Therefore, he decreed in Cum Ex Apostolus Officio that if a heretic were elected, such promotion was null. The same would apply to a Modernist heretic who was elected and appeared to have acceded to the papacy. He would not be the pope.
“If ever it should appear that... the Roman Pontiff (whether prior to his promotion to cardinal, or prior to his election as Roman Pontiff), has beforehand deviated from the Catholic faith or fallen into any heresy... such promotion or election in and of itself, even with the agreement and unanimous consent of all the cardinals, shall be null, legally invalid, and void...”
“Those so promoted or elected, by that very fact and without the need to make any further declaration, shall be deprived of any dignity, position, honor, title, authority, office, and power.”1
Theologians teach that heretics are excluded from the papacy, “Heretics and schismatics are barred from the Supreme Pontificate by the Divine Law itself... they must certainly be regarded as excluded from occupying the throne of the Apostolic See, which is the infallible teacher of the truth of the faith.”
St. Robert Bellarmine clearly states, “A pope who is a manifest heretic by that fact [per se] ceases to be pope and head [of the Church], just as he by that fact ceases to be a Christian and a member of the body of the Church. This is the judgment of all the early Fathers, who teach that manifest heretics immediately lose all jurisdiction.”
St. Antoninus said, “In the case in which the Pope would become a heretic, he would find himself, by that very fact alone and without any sentence, separated from the Church.” This is confirmed by Pope Innocent III. Concerning a heretical pope, the canonist Coronata declared, “If indeed such a situation would happen, the pope would, by divine law, fall from office without any sentence, indeed, without even a declaratory one. He who openly professes heresy places himself outside the Church.”
“If a pope were to defect from the Catholic faith, he would immediately lose his office and be deposed by God. This is confirmed in Canon Law: There are certain causes which affect the tacit resignation of an office which is accepted in advance by the operation of law and hence is affected without any declaration. These causes are… 4) If he has publicly fallen away from the Catholic faith.” For example, Martin Luther separated himself from the Catholic Church due to his public heresy in 1517 and was deposed by God. Three years later, Luther was excommunicated by Pope Leo X.
The Catholic Church “can never sanction a universal law that would be at odds with faith or morality or would be by its very nature conducive to the injury of souls.” It is impossible for a true pope to approve the New Mass, a spiritual poison that is sacrilegious, promotes false doctrine, and certainly constitutes a danger to one’s faith. A pope cannot approve a law, canon 844, that allows non-Catholics to receive the sacraments.
Jesus Christ is and always has been the divine, though invisible, Head of the Catholic Church. Our Lord has willed that His Vicar, the pope, should represent Him as the visible head of His Church on earth. This means that it is impossible for the Church ever to become “headless,” either when a pope dies or resigns, or when a public heretic is elected because Christ still reigns as her Head.
The word sedevacantism is a compound of two Latin words which together literally mean the chair [of St. Peter] being vacant. Sedevacantism is an undeniable fact because when a pope dies, resigns, or falls into heresy, the Chair of St. Peter is vacant. Sedevacantism, then, is the theological position of those traditional Catholics who believe in the papacy, papal infallibility, and the primacy of the Roman Pontiff, and yet do not accept the post-conciliar popes because they defected from the Catholic faith. The Church teaches that a heretic automatically loses his office without the need of any sentence or declaration.
If anyone agrees that the changes are evil and the Catholic Church, by Our Lord’s promise, cannot give evil and error, but still insists that the Vatican II popes are valid popes, possessing papal authority from Jesus Christ, he maintains that the Catholic Church has defected and that Our Lord’s promises are null and void. Whatever their reasons, they are illogical and in error. Some individuals feel safer if the chair of St. Peter is occupied by a heretic, rather than letting it stand vacant.
Fr. Martin Stepanich said, “With knowledge and understanding of the True Faith, we not only can recognize and judge when a pope has strayed notoriously from the True Faith, but we have the obligation to do so as well as say so, even publicly.”
We have always been taught that you must obey the pope. Yes, you must obey the pope, Christ’s infallible vicar. A Catholic cannot disregard his ordinary and universal teaching authority. Many good Catholics are deterred from the Tridentine Latin Mass because they have been told sedevacantists are schismatic. Schism is rejection of the authority of a legitimate Vicar of Christ. You are not obliged to obey a Modernist heretic who calls himself “pope.” Sedevacantists are not schismatics; there is no true pope to obey as has already been pointed out.
Some might ask, What about the visibility of the Catholic Church? There has been a break in the papal line 260 times, whenever a pope died. The vacancy of the papal throne is not incompatible with the visibility of the Catholic Church since she remained visible during the vacancies that occurred after the death of each pope because the true faith remained intact. In the present state, “They have the church buildings, but we have the faith.” (St. Athanasius)
The Church has never determined how long a vacancy in the Holy See may exist. There is nothing that prevents a long interregnum between the reign of one pope and his successor, especially in our evil times.
In response to the blatant heresies of the post-conciliar popes, some quasi-Traditionalists have chosen to recognize them as true popes, but resist them whenever they say or do anything harmful to the faith. They judge, on a case-by-case basis, the teachings, laws, and commands given by post-conciliar popes. They accept and obey the pope when they feel that he follows the traditional teachings of the Catholic Church and yet they disobey or ignore his Modernist beliefs. The notion of a double pope, one who is Catholic and one who teaches heresy, contradicts basic logic.
Fr. Martin Stepanich said, “There is no way that the Church could have an on-again and off-again pope, one who stays on Peter’s Chair when he stays with the True Faith and one who vacates that Chair when he goes against the Faith.”
The “Recognize and Resist”—the on-again, off-again pope position has no basis in theology and removes him from Catholicism. A Catholic cannot say, “I can ignore the pope, but he is still the pope.” The various emotional arguments raised against sedevacantism are based on the false belief that no matter what a pope says or does, he still retains his office. We have already proved the fact that manifest heretics immediately lose their office.
Since heresy deprives them of their office, the Modernist hierarchy of the New Church is not the hierarchy of the Catholic Church, but of the New Religion they have founded. Sadly,, those who hold the “Recognize and Resist” position accept the post-conciliar popes as legitimate hierarchy, thereby associating the Catholic Church with their apostasy, error, heresy, invalid sacraments, sacrilege, and sinful laws. This position is incredibly illogical and dangerous. Such people rashly place themselves as the ultimate authority on what to accept or reject.
In conclusion, Could God allow a false pope to be elected? Our ways are not God’s ways. It is not for us to determine what God can or cannot allow. Church history records periods when 41 antipopes sat upon the throne of St. Peter. Although many Catholics were deceived by appearances, the antipopes had disqualified themselves from the papal office.
The fact that false popes have occupied the papacy in our day is not surprising because Sacred Scripture has warned us of such. Jesus Christ said, “Beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravening wolves. By their fruits you will know them.” St. Paul stated, “Let no one deceive you in any way, for the day of the Lord will not come unless the apostasy come first...”
Why does God allow such confusion and error? He permits the current situation in the Church in order that we may turn to Him in prayer so that we can find and follow the truth. This powerful deception, the Universal Apostasy, brings about the purification and perfection of the faithful. By persevering in the true Catholic faith, we prove our love and fidelity to God. The restoration of order is left to Divine Providence. Our Lord assured us, “I will triumph in spite of all my enemies.”
From sermon here.
Fr. Dominic Radecki is the co-author with his brother Fr. Francisco Radecki of 'Vatican II Exposed As Counterfeit Catholicism' (2019) and Tumultuous Times:Twenty General Councils of the Catholic Church and Vatican II and its Aftermath (2004)
