Churchmen have no authority to change Sacred Tradition (Part Two)

From the Writings of Roman Catholic Popes, Councils, Saints, and Theologians

Part Two

“Indeed, the extent and depth of the teaching of the Second Vatican Council call for a renewed commitment to deeper study in order to reveal clearly the Council’s continuity with Tradition, especially in points of doctrine which, perhaps because they are new, have not yet been well understood by some sections of the Church.”

(Ecclesia Dei, 1988) Pope John Paul II

Modernist John Paul II admitted there were new doctrines
yet what does the Catholic Church say concerning the ability
of any church member to change what has been already infallibly taught? Let us further examine:

ST. THOMAS AQUINAS, O.P. (1225-1274)
THE "ANGELIC" DOCTOR AND PRINCIPAL THEOLOGIAN OF THE CHURCH

 "Hold firmly that your faith is identical with that of the ancients.  
Deny this, and you dissolve the unity of the Church."

        "There being an imminent danger for the Faith, prelates must be 
questioned, even publicly, by their subjects.  Thus, St. Paul, who was a 
subject of St. Peter, questioned him publicly on account of an imminent 
danger of scandal in a matter of Faith.  And, as the Glossa of St. 
Augustine puts it (Ad Galatas 2.14), 'St. Peter himself gave the example 
to those who govern so that if sometime they stray from the right way, 
they will not reject a correction as unworthy even if it comes from 
their subjects....  The reprehension was just and useful, and the reason for 
it was not light:  there was a danger for the preservation of Gospel 
truth....  The way it took place was appropriate, since it was public and 
manifest.  For this reason, St. Paul writes:  'I spoke to Cephas,' that is, 
Peter, 'before everyone,' since the simulation practiced by St. Peter was 
fraught with danger to everyone.  (Summa Theologiae, IIa IIae, Q. 33, A. 
4)

        "Some say that fraternal correction does not extend to the 
prelates either because man should not raise his voice against heaven, 
or because the prelates are easily scandalized if corrected by their 
subjects.  However, this does not happen, since when they sin, the 
prelates do not represent heaven, and, therefore, must be corrected.  
And those who correct them charitably do not raise their voices against 
them, but in their favor, since the admonishment is for their own 
sake....   For this reason, according to other [authors], the precept of 
fraternal correction extends also to the prelates, so that they may be 
corrected by their subjects."  (IV Sententiarum, D. 19, Q. 2, A. 2)


ST. CATHERINE OF SIENA (1347-1380)
DOCTOR OF THE CHURCH


"Most Holy Father,... because He [Christ] has given you authority 
and 
because you have accepted it, you ought to use your virtue and power.  If 
you 
do not wish to use it, it might be better for you to resign what you have 
accepted; it would give more honor to God and health to your soul....  If 
you 
do not do this, you will be censured by God.  If I were you, I would fear 
that Divine Judgment might descend on me.  (Letter to Pope Gregory XI)

        "Alas, Most Holy Father!  At times obedience to you leads to eternal 
damnation.  (Letter to Pope Gregory IX, 1376.)


JUAN CARDINAL DE TORQUEMADA [IOANNES DE TURRECREMATA], O.P. (1388-1468)
(UNCLE OF THE GRAND INQUISITOR)
OFFICIALLY DESIGNATED THEOLOGIAN OF THE COUNCIL OF BASEL/FLORENCE
GIVEN BY POPE EUGENIUS IV THE TITLE OF "DEFENDER OF THE FAITH"
        

"Although it clearly follows from the circumstances that the Pope  
can err at times, and command things which must not be done, that we are  
not to be simply obedient to him in all things, that does not show that  
he must not be obeyed by all when his commands are good.  To know in  
what cases he is to be obeyed and in what not,... it is said in the Acts  
of the Apostles:  'One ought to obey God rather than man'; therefore,  
were the Pope to command anything against Holy Scripture, or the  
articles of faith, or the truth of the Sacraments, or the commands of  
the natural or divine law, he ought not to be obeyed, but in such  
commands, to be passed over (despiciendus)...."  (Summa de Ecclesia 
[1489], founded upon the doctrine formulated and defined by the Council 
of Florence and defined by Pope Eugenius IV and Pope Pius IV)
      
    
        "By disobedience, the Pope can separate himself from Christ 
despite the fact that he is head of the Church, for above all, the unity 
of the Church is dependent upon its relationship with Christ.  The Pope 
can separate himself from Christ either by disobeying the law of Christ, 
or by commanding something that is against the divine or natural law.  
by doing so, the Pope separates himself from the body of the Church 
because this body is itself linked to Christ by obedience.  In 
this way, the Pope would, without doubt, fall into schism....
        "He would do that if he did not observe that which the Universal 
Church observes in basing herself on the Tradition of the Apostles, or 
if he did not observe that which has been ordained for the whole world 
by the universal councils or by the authority of the Apostolic See.  
Especially is this true with regard to the divine liturgy, as, for 
example, if he did not wish personally to follow the universal 
customs and rites of the Church.  This same holds true for other aspects 
of the liturgy in a very general fashion, as would be the case of one 
unwilling to celebrate with priestly vestments, or in consecrated 
places, or with candles, or if he refused to make the sign of the cross 
as other priests do, or other similar things which, in a general way, 
relate to perpetual usage in conformity with the Canons.
        "By thus separating himself apart, and with obstinacy, from the 
observance of the universal customs and rites of the Church, the Pope 
could fall into schism.  The conclusion is sound and the premises are 
not in doubt, since just as the Pope can fall into heresy, so also he 
can disobey and transgress with obstinacy that which has been 
established for the common order of the Church.  Thus it is that [Pope] 
Innocent [III] states (De Consuetudine) that it is necessary to obey a 
Pope in all things as long as he does not himself go against the 
universal customs of the Church, but should he go against the universal 
customs of the church, he ought not to be obeyed...."  
(Summa de Ecclesia [1489])


ST. ANTONINUS, O.P. (1389-1459)
BISHOP AND THEOLOGIAN
        

"In the case in which the pope would become a heretic, he would 
find himself, by that fact alone and without any other sentence, 
separated from the Church.  A head separated from a body cannot, as long 
as it remains separated, be head of the same body from which it was cut 
off.

        "A pope who would be separated from the Church by heresy, 
therefore, would by that very fact itself cease to be head of the 
Church.  He could not be a heretic and remain pope, because, since he is 
outside of the Church, he cannot possess the keys of the Church."  
(Summa Theologica)


GIROLAMO SAVONAROLA (1452-1498)
DOMINICAN PREACHER (CAUSE FOR CANONIZATION PENDING)
        

The Lord, moved to anger by this intolerable corruption, has, for 
some time past, allowed the Church to be without a pastor.  For I bear 
witness in the name of God that this Alexander VI is in no way Pope and 
cannot be....  This I declare in the first place and affirm it with all 
certitude, that the man is not a Christian; he does not even believe 
any longer that there is a God; he goes beyond the final limits of 
infidelity and impiety."  (Letter to the Emperor)


SYLVESTRO MAZZOLINI (PRIERIAS), O.P. (1460-1523)
THEOLOGIAN

        "What should be done when the pope, because of his bad customs, 
destroys the Church...?  What if the pope wanted, without reason, to 
abrogate positive law...?  He would certainly sin; he should neither be 
permitted to act in such a fashion nor should he be obeyed in what was 
evil; but he should be resisted with a courteous reprehension.  (De 
Iuridica et Irrefragabili Veritate Romanae Ecclesiae Romanique 
Pontificis, secs. 4 and 15)


GIACOMO TOMMASO DE VIO GAETANI [CAJETAN], O.P. (1469-1534)
THEOLOGIAN AND CARDINAL
        

Cardinal Cajetan points out that the famous axiom "Ubi Petrus, ibi  
Ecclesia" [Where the Pope is, there is also the Church] holds true only  
when the Pope acts and behaves as the Pope, because Peter "is subject to  
the duties of the Office"; otherwise, "neither is the Church in him, nor  
is he in the Church."  (Apud St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica, IIa 
IIae, Q. 39, Art. 1, ad 6)

        This statement accords with that of St. Ignatius of Antioch (ob. ca. 
107), one of the Apostolic Fathers:  "Where Christ is, there is the Church"  
(Epistula ad Smyrnaeos, 8).

        One must resist to his face a Pope who publicly destroys the Church.  
(De Comparata Auctoritate Papae et Concilio, cap. XXVII apud Victoria)
    
          
FRANCISCO DE VICTORIA, O.P. (1480?-1546)
THEOLOGIAN
        

"Consequently, if he [the pope] wished to give away the whole 
treasure of the Church or the Patrimony of St. Peter to his relatives, 
if he wanted to destroy the Church or the like, he should not be 
permitted to act in that fashion, but one would be obliged to resist 
him.  The reason for this is that he does not possess power in order to 
destroy; therefore, if there is evidence that he is doing it, it is 
lawful to resist him.  The result of all this is that if the pope 
destroys the Church by his orders and acts, he can be resisted and the 
execution of his mandates prevented.

        "Second proof of the thesis.  By Natural Law it is lawful to repel 
violence with violence.  Now then, with such orders and idspensations the 
pope exerts violence, since he acts against the Law, as we have proven.  
Therefore, it is lawful to resist him."  (Dialogus de Potestate Papae 
[1517], 
para. 4)


POPE ADRIAN VI (1522-1523)
       

"If by the Roman Church you mean its head or pontiff, it is beyond 
question that he can error even in matters touching the faith.  He does this 
when he teaches heresy by his own judgment or decretal.  In truth, many 
Roman 
pontiffs were heretics.  The last of them was Pope John XXII (1316-1334)."  
(Quaest. in IV Sententiam).

        "After his death [Pope] Honorius was anathematized by the Eastern 
Church.  We must remember that he was accused of heresy, a crime which 
legitimizes the resistance of inferiors to superiors, together with the 
rejection of their pernicious doctrines.  (Allocution III, Lect. In Conc. 
VIII, 
act. VII)
       

ST. ROBERT BELLARMINE, S.J. (1542-1621)
CARDINAL AND DOCTOR OF THE CHURCH
  

"Papa hereticus ipso facto depositus est" [An heretical pope is by 
that very fact deposed].

        "In order to resist and defend oneself no authority is required....  
Therefore, as it is lawful to resist the Pope, if he assaulted a man's 
person, so it is lawful to resist him, if he assaulted souls or troubled the 
state (turbanti rempublicam) and much more if he strove to destroy the 
Church.  It is lawful, I say, to resist him by not doing what he commands, 
and hindering the execution of his will."  (De Romano Pontifice, Lib. II, 
Ch. 
29)
    
      "A pope who is a manifest heretic automatically (per se) ceases to  
be pope and head of the Church, just as he ceases automatically to be a 
Christian and a member of the Church.  Wherefore, he can be judged and 
punished by the Church.  All the early Fathers are unanimous in teaching 
that manifest heretics immediately lose all jurisdiction."  (De Romano 
Pontifice, II.30)
 
        According to St. Robert Bellarmine, papal infallibility is a 
charism of divine assistance accorded by God to the Pope because of his 
possessing the magisterium, or the office of primacy.  Bellarmine 
concludes that in the event that an individual Pontiff should 
delinquently lose the papacy, he would necessarily lose not only the 
papal office but also the divine charism of infallibility. 

        In short, the divine assistance is attached not to the person of 
the Pope per se, but to the office that is filled by this person.  
Therefore, an individual Pontiff enjoys this assistance of the Holy 
Spirit as long as he also enjoys the possession of the magisterial 
office.  Should this office be forfeited, his prerogative of 
infallibility would also lapse.  Thus, Bellarmine foresaw the 
possibility of an individual Pontiff lapsing into manifest heresy.

        The First Vatican Council incorporated Bellarmine's own formula in 
qualifying papal infallibility.  In his treatise De Romano Pontifice, 
Bellarmine limits infallibility to those pronouncements made by the 
Sovereign Pontiff "cum ex cathedra loquitur."  Thus, the charism of 
infallibility is a free gift given the Pontiff not for his personal 
sanctification, but to assure the welfare of others by means of his 
preserving and explaining the Deposit of Faith.

        The First Vatican Council amended the original title of its draft 
from De Romani Pontificis Infallibilitate (Concerning the Infallibility 
of the Roman Pontiff) to De Romani Pontificis Infallibili Magisterio 
(Concerning the Infallible Magisterium of the Roman Pontiff).  By 
stressing the infallible magisterium of the Roman Pontiff, this latter 
title clarified not only the source and purpose of the divine charism of 
infallibility, but its resultant loss should an individual Pope 
regretfully lapse from the magisterial office.  In this respect, the 
Constitution merely defined what in fact had already become the common 
opinion, as most capably explained by Bellarmine.
        

NINETEENTH (DOGMATIC) OECUMENICAL COUNCIL, TRENT (1545-1563)
        

"Si quis dixerit, receptos et approbatos ecclesiae catholicae 
ritus in solemni sacramentorum administratione adhiberi consuetos aut 
contemni, aut sine peccato a ministris pro libito omitti, aut in novus 
alio per quemcumque ecclesiarum pastorem mutari posse:  anathema sit." -
-Session VII, Canon 13
        [If anyone says that the received and approved rites of the 
Catholic Church, accustomed to be used in the administration of the 
Sacraments, may be despised or omitted by the ministers without sin and 
at their pleasure, or may be changed by any pastor (a term that includes 
the Supreme Pastor, the Pope] of the churches to other new ones, let him 
be anathema.]