by Pete Baklinski
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| St. Peter's statue at the Vatican |
PARIS,
March 17, 2017 (LifeSiteNews)
-- Canon lawyers, theologians, and scholars will be meeting in Paris in two
weeks to discuss a topic that has never been the focus of a Catholic conference
before: How to depose a heretical pope.
Titled Deposing the Pope:
Theological Premises, Canonical Models, Constitutional Challenge,
the conference seeks to explore the mechanisms that are built into the Catholic
Church for dealing with a pope who openly teaches falsehood and even
heresy.
Speaking
at the conference will be University of Paris Professor Laurent Fonbaustier who
published a 1200 page book last year on the topic that was titled The Deposition
of the Heretical Pope.
The
conference includes 15 speakers who will be giving a range of talks on the
subject matter with titles such as “Conciliarism and the Deposition of a Pope
Through the Prism of Gallicanism,” "The Downfall of the Pope: Between
Renunciation and Deposition," and "The Deposition of John XXII and
Benedict XIII at Constance, 1415–1417."
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Brochure from the 'Deposing the Pope'
Conference
Speaking
at the conference are Professors Nicolas Warembourg and Cyrille Dounot, two of
the 45 Catholic academics who last June submitted an
appeal to the Dean of the College of Cardinals in Rome
requesting a repudiation of erroneous propositions they found in Pope Francis’
exhortation Amoris Laetitia.
The
group of 45 Catholic academics said the
Pope’s exhortation presented “dangers to Catholic faith and morals” since it
“contains a number of statements that can be understood in a sense that is
contrary to Catholic faith and morals.”
The
conference comes after four years of Francis at the helm of the Barque of
Peter. During this time the Pope, and the people he has put into key positions,
have steered the Church in a direction that would have been unthinkable to
faithful Catholics under the two previous pontiffs of John Paul II and Pope
Benedict XVI.
Francis’
ambiguous speeches and especially his papal writings have turned cardinal
against cardinal, bishop
against bishop, and lay-faithful against lay-faithful.
Doctrinal confusion has resulted in pastoral guidelines being issued based on
his writings that allow Holy Communion to be given to those living in
adultery.
Last
November Vaticanist Giuseppe Nardi reported that a 1975
theological study by the learned Brazilian layman Arnaldo Vidigal Xavier da
Silveira was making the rounds in the Vatican. The layman examined in his work
titled The Theological
Hypothesis of a Heretical Pope whether it is possible
for a pope to be or become a heretic, and if so, what consequences would follow
from this.
Reported
Nardi: “Three-and-a-half years after the start of his pontificate, Pope Francis
is reaching his limits. The impression, given by means of gestures and words,
of a latent intention to change the doctrine of the Church must at some point
either take on definite form or else it must collapse,” he wrote at that
time.
“Francis
finds himself cornered by means of the very atmosphere he himself is
responsible for creating. It’s no longer about a spontaneous utterance on this
or that, which remains improvised and non-binding. His pastoral work and his
leadership skills, which demand a sense of responsibility and an exemplary
character, are reaching their limits. This could cause Francis [‘s pontificate]
to fail,” he added.
The
conference comes three months after Cardinal Raymond Burke gave an
interview in which he explained that if a pope were to
"formally profess heresy he would cease, by that act, to be the Pope.”
Burke
said in the December 2016 interview that there is a process within the Church
for dealing with such a situation, adding his hope that “we won’t be witnessing
that at any time soon.”
Also
in December American canon lawyer Dr. Edward Peters addressed the question of
what could be done if a pope were found to be heretical.
Peters
writes that the “crucial question” from a canonist’s perspective is “who would
determine whether a given pope has fallen into heresy” since Canon 1404 states
that the “First See is judged by no one.”
He
found in canonical tradition, however, the position that if a general council determined
that a pope had committed heresy, by that very fact he will have effectually
cut himself off from the true vine, thereby forfeiting his office.
Comments
Peters: “…however remote is the possibility of a pope actually falling into
heresy and however difficult it might be to determine whether a pope has so
fallen, such a catastrophe, Deus vetet [God forbid], would result in the loss
of papal office.”
The
location for the upcoming conference is significant, reports Church
Militant. It was in the 1300s the University of Paris explored the
question of what could be done with the possibly heretical Pope John XXII, who
denied the doctrine that the souls of the just are admitted to the beatific
vision after death, a position he retracted on his deathbed.
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