In my October 2023 post,
"Vatican I Refutes "Traditional" Roman Catholicism"
https://thecatholiccottage.blogspot.com/2023/10/vatican-i-refutes-traditional.html
I show how the Society of St. Pius V, in its “Statement of Principles”, explicitly contradicts the “infallible” Roman Catholic dogma on the papacy. But this can be applied to all Traditional Catholic sects.
The theological stance of so-called Traditional Catholics, or Trad Cats, is untenable, for the First Vatican Council I says it's impossible for the papacy fall away from the faith; its impossible for Rome, which the whole world looks to as the foundation of the Church's unity, to become a means of deception:
Vatican Council I, 1870
https://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/i-vatican-council/documents/vat-i_const_18700718_pastor-aeternus_la.html
Session 4, Opening Statement
4. In order, then, that...the whole multitude of believers should be held together in the unity of faith and communion, He set blessed Peter over the rest of the apostles and instituted in him the permanent principle of both unities and their visible foundation.
Session 4, Dogmatic Constitution Pastor Aeternus, Ch. 2. On the permanence of the primacy of blessed Peter in the Roman pontiffs
1. That which our lord Jesus Christ, the prince of shepherds and great shepherd of the sheep, established in the blessed apostle Peter, for the continual salvation and permanent benefit of the church, must of necessity remain forever, by Christ’s authority, in the church which, founded as it is upon a rock, will stand firm until the end of time.
2. For...blessed Peter, prince and head of the apostles, the pillar of faith and the foundation of the catholic church...to this day and forever he lives and presides and exercises judgment in his successors the bishops of the holy Roman See...
3. Therefore whoever succeeds to the chair of Peter obtains by the institution of Christ himself, the primacy of Peter over the whole church. So what the truth has ordained stands firm, and blessed Peter perseveres in the rock-like strength he was granted, and does not abandon that guidance of the church which he once received.
5...if anyone says that it is not by the institution of Christ the Lord Himself (that is to say, by divine law) that blessed Peter have [habeat] perpetual successors...let him be anathema.
Leo XIII, Satis Cognitum, 1896
The Church Always Visible
3. And, since it was necessary that His divine mission should be perpetuated to the end of time... the Church was begotten...it is external and necessarily visible.
Every Revealed Truth, without Exception, Must be Accepted
9...Christ instituted in the Church a living, authoritative and permanent Magisterium, which by His own power He strengthened...He willed and ordered, under the gravest penalties, that its teachings should be received as if they were His own...If it could in any way be false, an evident contradiction follows; for then God Himself would be the author of error in man...
...For this reason the Fathers of the Vatican Council laid down nothing new...when they decreed as follows: "All those things are to be believed by divine and Catholic faith which are contained in the written or unwritten word of God, and which are proposed by the Church as divinely revealed, either by a solemn definition or in the exercise of its ordinary and universal Magisterium" (Sess. iii., cap. 3).
Hence, as it is clear that God absolutely willed that there should be unity in His Church, and as it is evident what kind of unity He willed, and by means of what principle He ordained that this unity should be maintained... that Church, which, as is evident to all, possesses the supreme authority of the Apostolic See...
...It is then undoubtedly the office of the church to guard Christian doctrine...since Jesus Christ...ordered the Church to strive, by the truth of its doctrine, to sanctify and to save mankind. But faith alone cannot compass so great, excellent, and important an end. There must needs be also the fitting and devout worship of God, which is to be found chiefly in the divine Sacrifice and in the dispensation of the Sacraments, as well as salutary laws and discipline. All these must be found in the Church, since it continues the mission of the Saviour forever...
The Church is a Divine Society
10 ..the Church is a society divine in its origin, supernatural in its end and in means proximately adapted to the attainment of that end...it is called the kingdom which God has raised up and which will stand forever. Finally it is the body of Christ - that is, of course, His mystical body, but a body living and duly organized and composed of many members; members indeed which have not all the same functions, but which, united one to the other, are kept bound together by the guidance and authority of the head.
...inasmuch as the Church is a divinely constituted society, unity of government, which effects and involves unity of communion, is necessary jure divino [by divine law]. "The unity of the Church is manifested in the mutual connection or communication of its members, and likewise in the relation of all the members of the Church to one head."
Leo XIII's encyclical continues to point out the NECESSITY OF THE ROMAN SEE:The Supreme Authority Founded by Christ
11. The nature of this supreme authority, which all Christians are bound to obey, can be ascertained only by finding out what was the evident and positive will of Christ...since [Christ] willed that His kingdom should be visible...because He was about to withdraw His visible presence from the Church, it was necessary that He should appoint someone in His place, to have the charge of the Universal Church. Hence before His Ascension He said to Peter: 'Feed my sheep' ".
Jesus Christ, therefore, appointed Peter to be that head of the Church; and He also determined that the authority instituted in perpetuity for the salvation of all should be inherited by His successors, in whom the same permanent authority of Peter himself should continue...
Leo XIII, Satis Cognitum, 1896
The Universal Jurisdiction of St. Peter
12. From this text it is clear that by the will and command of God the Church rests upon St. Peter, just as a building rests on its foundation. Now the proper nature of a foundation is to be a principle of cohesion for the various parts of the building. It must be the necessary condition of stability and strength. Remove it and the whole building falls. It is consequently the office of St. Peter to support the Church, and to guard it in all its strength and indestructible unity.
Pius XII teaches that Christ never ceases to guide His Church through Peter’s Successors, and therefore “the Mystical Body” has a visible Head BY NECCESSITY:The Roman Pontiffs Possess Supreme Power in the Church Jure Divino
13. It was necessary that a government of this kind, since it belongs to the constitution and formation of the Church, as its principal element - that is as the principle of unity and the foundation of lasting stability - should in no wise come to an end with St. Peter, but should pass to his successors from one to another...
So according to Vatican I, and Popes Leo XIII and Pius XII, there can be no 70 year interregnum, especially during the time of greatest spiritual turbulence the world has known so far; the time when “Christ’s Vicar” is needed most! As Pius XII says in #39 above, "when He sees [the Church] in danger, saves her from the tempestuous sea either Himself or through the ministry of His angels, or through her whom we invoke as Help of Christians, or through other heavenly advocates." If one is intellectually honest, Rome’s situation today cannot be called an interregnum. Not only is there no pope, but there is no way of electing one, since the entire Roman See, which includes the college of cardinals, has fallen away into apostasy. This is expressly contrary to the decree of Vatican I.Pius XII, Mystici Corporis, 194339...from Heaven Christ never ceases to look down with especial love on His spotless Spouse so sorely tried in her earthly exile; and when He sees her in danger, saves her from the tempestuous sea either Himself or through the ministry of His angels, or through her whom we invoke as Help of Christians, or through other heavenly advocates, and in calm and tranquil waters comforts her with the peace "which surpasseth all understanding."40. But we must not think that He rules only in a hidden or extraordinary manner. On the contrary, our Redeemer also governs His Mystical Body in a visible and normal way through His Vicar on earth...Christ our Lord...entrusted to the Chief of the Apostles the visible government of the entire community He had founded. Since He was all wise He could not leave the body of the Church He had founded as a human society without a visible head...Christ, who never ceases Himself to guide the Church invisibly, though at the same time He rules it visibly, through him who is His representative on earth. After His glorious Ascension into Heaven this Church rested not on Him alone, but on Peter, too, its visible foundation stone...41. They, therefore, walk in the path of dangerous error who believe that they can accept Christ as the Head of the Church, while not adhering loyally to His Vicar on earth. They have taken away the visible head, broken the visible bonds of unity and left the Mystical Body of the Redeemer so obscured and so maimed, that those who are seeking the haven of eternal salvation can neither see it nor find it.50...It is [Christ] who...enriches...above all His Vicar on earth with the supernatural gifts of knowledge, understanding and wisdom, so that they may loyally preserve the treasury of faith, defend it vigorously, and explain it and confirm it with reverence and devotion. Finally, it is [Christ] who, though unseen, presides at the Councils of the Church and guides them.52...our Savior Himself sustains in a divine manner the society which He founded.53...He so sustains the Church, and so in a certain sense lives in the Church, that she is, as it were, another Christ.64...so is it with His Mystical Body...that He might consecrate in His blood the visible Society founded by Him and "lead man back to things invisible under a visible rule."65. ...those who dream of an imaginary Church...fail to understand that the reason which led our Divine Redeemer to give to the community of man He founded the constitution of a Society, perfect of its kind and containing all the juridical and social elements - namely, that He might perpetuate on earth the saving work of Redemption...69. Now since its Founder willed this social body of Christ to be visible...Above all, it is ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY that the Supreme Head, that is, the Vicar of Jesus Christ on earth, be visible to the eyes of all, since it is He who...commissioned Peter and his successors to be His personal representatives on earth and to assume the visible government of the Christian community.
1917 Code of Canon LawCanon 160 The election of the Roman Pontiff is guided solely by the const. of Pius X Vacante Sede Apostolica of 25 Dec. 1904:27. The right to elect the Roman Pontiff belongs exclusively and privately to the Cardinals, to the exclusion of all...
To be consistent, a Trad Cat must either join the New Order apostates, now under Leo XIV, or take the stance that Rome fell away before Vatican I. But if one becomes a pre-Vatican I recusant, as I used to be, he is faced with the dilemma of determining for himself, with his limited, fallible knowledge, which popes throughout history were faithful, and which were heretics. He must decide which truth is true, essentially becoming his own pope. He must also ignore the promise of Jesus Christ:
Matt. 28:20 ...behold I am with you [Apostles, plural] all days, even to the consummation of the world.
Prov. 16:18 Pride goeth before destruction...
"Catholic"
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