Twelve years ago today, 13 March 2013, nothing happened. An invalid conclave held an invalid election, resulting in nothing. 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:
- Substantial Error renders a resignation invalid by the law itself
- 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)
- 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.
- 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
- 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:
- The papacy is an OFFICE (the Latin text of these canons has it as muneri/munere)
- If the Roman Ponitiff resigns his OFFICE… but wait, he resigned the Ministry instead (ministerio…renuntiare “I renounce the ministry”)
- It must be properly manifested, but it wasn’t, neither in formula HERE nor in practice
- 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
- 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
Add another key point to your first five, regarding the invalidity of Pope Benedict XVI’s putative renunciation, is that renunciations, resignations etc cannot be made for a future date.
Anything with a future date should always be treated as conditional, interim and revocable.
Did Pope Benedict XVI ever produce any signed document clearly renouncing his Papacy on 28 February at or very shortly after 20:00 (a very peculiar time of day)?
Of course not!
It wasn’t a peculiar time of day, it was the time Pope Benedict always finished his work for the day.
Indeed. Canon 189.3 states: “A resignation which requires acceptance lacks all force if it is not accepted within three months; one which does not require acceptance takes effect when it has been communicated by the one resigning according to the norm of law.” Obviously, the resignation of a Pope doesn’t require acceptance, so it takes effect when it is announced.
Your paragraph Mark
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.
That second sentence…Best part of whole article!
We see the logical conclusion of believing that Francis is pope is the idea that the men of the conclave, not the Holy Spirit, chooses the pope, and these mentally retarded pundits are begging the Cardinals “please give us a Catholic pope.” They can’t see that the reason “Teh Francis” isn’t Catholic is because he is not nor has ever been the pope, and the Holy Spirit not only didn’t choose Francis, but the Holy Spirit had no more role in the false conclave 12 years ago than it has in the local election for dog catcher.
Ratzinger wasn’t a valid pope either. The true Catholic Church does NOT subsist in other “denominations”. It cannot. But not according to BXVI…even after his “election,”.
https://novusordowatch.org/2025/03/vatican2-church-subsists-in-teaching/
Indeed.
So how can invincibly ignorant baptized heretics be saved if they are outside the Church?
Material heretics can still receive Divine Grace. Even Formal Heretics can.
Doesn’t that imply that you can be saved by divine grace outside the Church if you insist that VII is teaching heresy and not in conformity with Pius XI?
The only way it doesn’t imply that is if people not in the Catholic Church can be in the soul of the Church—the Catholic Church being the mystical BODY of Christ. Theology teaches that everyone in the soul of the Church is in the state of grace.
I mean, do you think Pius XI was a modernist?
There are so many reasons, and each one by itself is more than enough proof that Antipope Bergoglio could never have become pope.
A future pope is going to have to be drastic and forbid ANY layman or [especially] laywoman from publicly teaching any Catholic doctrine or writing any Catholic book. No laymen at all working in Catholic schools. No more professional Catholics. No more theology degrees for anyone who is not a priest or religious.
We are not Protestants. If you want to be a “professional” Catholic, you become a priest, monk, or nun. Period. No more of these Protestant style wannabe “married priests” that we have, like Scott Hahn, Timothy Gordon, Taylor Marshall, etc.
I blame 100% these twelve years of Antipope Bergoglio on “conservative” professional Catholics.
I disagree. It should be mandatory in every Catholic school for students to pass courses in moral theology, dogmatic theology and the jurisprudence of canon law. I believe the current crises is because people don’t KNOW the faith and listen to influential people with the airs of authority. Even basic knowledge is enough to tell you that a formal heretic cannot at the same time be the vicar of Christ and that appealing to canon law cannot change it.
At least if they knew their faith they are less likely to be taken for a ride by Catholic pundits.
Okay, II’m a convert. Turns out that it is mandatory, so I have no clue about why there is such widespread ignorance or why people trust certain Catholic “experts”.
T, I agree that a Catholic should know his faith and take classes if he wants. I am talking about these “professional Catholics” like Taylor Marshall, Scott Hahn, Peter Kwasnieski, et al., and those who major in theology and then get a salary from the Catholic Church or donations from Catholics. This was not allowed before Vatican II. Only priests, monks, and nuns generally would write books and teach and make a living [so to speak] from the Catholic Church.
This NOVUS [which in Latin means “new-fangled”] post-Vatican II idea that Catholic young men who intend to marry can go to Christendom or Franciscan and major in theology and then have no job skills and cannot find a job except by being a professional Catholic [and thus the Church has to support the wife and ten children] is completely to blame for this mess we are in now with twelve years of an antipope. It is the total inversion of reality: Laymen are supposed to make money and donate to the Church.
This is what happens when Catholic young men want to have it both ways, that is they want to be “married priests.” They want to study and teach theology [Holy Orders] but are too sex-crazed to commit to celibacy and so decide to marry. This a completely new post-Vatican II thing. And they are to blame for this mess we are in because they expect the Church to pay their salary and refuse to lose their salary by telling the truth that Bergoglio is an antipope.
I am reading the Gospel of St. John this lent, and today I read chapter 10. I recommend everyone go and read it with this article in mind. God bless us and have mercy on us all.