Eleven Years Later: Quick summation of all the reasons Bergoglio is not now, nor ever was, nor ever will be Pope

Eleven years ago today, nothing happened. An invalid conclave held an invalid election. That is all. -nvp

Originally posted January 13, 2023

Let’s review:

Canon 188: A resignation made out of grave fear that is inflicted unjustly or out of malice, substantial error, or simony is invalid by the law itself.

Notes:

1. Substantial Error renders a resignation invalid by the law itself
2. If Pope Benedict thought he could remain in any way “papal” AFTER his resignation, that would certainly rise to the level of Substantial Error (either you are pope, or you aren’t pope)
3. Visual evidence of “papal” feels: Retained white cassock, retained Fisherman’s Ring, retained residence in the Vatican, retained papal name, retained form of address “His Holiness,” retained the Apostolic Blessing.
4. Written evidence of the “impossibility” of truly stepping down: Last General Audience on 27 Feb 2013, and Abp. Ganswein’s speech at the Gregorian on 20 May 2016. HERE and HERE
5. Do you think he intended to remain papal IN ANY WAY? YES OR NO?

Can. 331 The bishop of the Roman Church, in whom continues the office given by the Lord uniquely to Peter, the first of the Apostles, and to be transmitted to his successors, is the head of the college of bishops, the Vicar of Christ, and the pastor of the universal Church on earth. By virtue of his office he possesses supreme, full, immediate, and universal ordinary power in the Church, which he is always able to exercise freely.

Can. 332 §1. The Roman Pontiff obtains full and supreme power in the Church by his acceptance of legitimate election together with episcopal consecration. Therefore, a person elected to the supreme pontificate who is marked with episcopal character obtains this power from the moment of acceptance. If the person elected lacks episcopal character, however, he is to be ordained a bishop immediately.

§2. If it happens that the Roman Pontiff resigns his office, it is required for validity that the resignation is made freely and properly manifested but not that it is accepted by anyone.

Can. 333 §1. By virtue of his office, the Roman Pontiff not only possesses power over the universal Church but also obtains the primacy of ordinary power over all particular churches and groups of them. Moreover, this primacy strengthens and protects the proper, ordinary, and immediate power which bishops possess in the particular churches entrusted to their care.

§2. In fulfilling the office of supreme pastor of the Church, the Roman Pontiff is always joined in communion with the other bishops and with the universal Church. He nevertheless has the right, according to the needs of the Church, to determine the manner, whether personal or collegial, of exercising this office.

Notes:

1. The papacy is an OFFICE (the Latin text of these canons has it as muneri/munere)
2. If the Roman Ponitiff resigns his OFFICE… but wait, he resigned the Ministry instead (ministerio…renuntiare “I renounce the ministry”)
3. It must be properly manifested, but it wasn’t, neither in formula HERE nor in practice
4. It must be made freely… jury is out on that one, but at least the ATMs and credit cards started working again inside the Vatican the following day
5. Who accepts the resignation means nothing, acceptance has no bearing on validity

Do you think that Pope Benedict didn’t know Canon Law? That he didn’t know, in particular Canon 332.2, the canon which specifically governs Papal resignations?

Now that we are in an Interregnum, could Bergoglio be confirmed as true pope? Well, if only he were Catholic, yes. It has happened before where the true pope dies, and then the antipope of the time is “grandfathered in,” so to speak.

But Bergoglio isn’t Catholic, because he is a public heretic, and public heretics are outside the Church. There is no way for him to hold any ecclesiastical office, let alone pope. We don’t need anyone in authority to tells us this, we have a duty to recognize it on our own, and call it out. Not only is he a manifest heretic on his own accord, he has also inserted heresy into the official magisterium of the Church, something which is entirely impossible for a true Vicar of Christ to do. All of this stands as a robust secondary dataset pointing back to the root cause of failed partial resignation of Pope Benedict.

The faux conclave that “elected” Bergoglio was invalid, because the true Roman Pontiff yet lived. But like putting a cherry on top, the conclave was doubly invalid, because the dirty dealings behind the scenes violated every rule in the book, making the election illegal anyway!

The number of different ways Bergoglio isn’t pope, and never has been, is truly astounding. As is the number of people who claim there is nothing to see here.

The fruit of the third sorrowful mystery (Crowning with Thorns) is Moral Courage. It wouldn’t take much.

Stay Confessed.

“The “always” is also a “forever” – there can no longer be a return to the private sphere. My decision to resign the active exercise of the ministry does not revoke this… I am not abandoning the cross, but remaining in a new way at the side of the crucified Lord. I no longer bear the power of office for the governance of the Church, but in the service of prayer I remain, so to speak, in the enclosure of Saint Peter.” HERE