Bishop Athanasius Schneider: Francis is Pope – even if he was illegally elected

Pope Francis is the final Pope. Even if he was chosen against the rules, it doesn't matter. Catholics cannot absolutize the human law governing the election of popes. Much more crucial is the good of the Church and the salvation of souls. Bishop Athanasius Schneider writes about this.

Bishop Athanasius Schneider published an article on the legality of Pope Francis' pontificate in the LifeSiteNews portal.

He pointed out that in the past of the Church legality ad littram, which is typical of legal positivism, has never been considered an absolute rule where human law is concerned. This besides applies to the way the Pope was elected. How he is chosen is not God's law, but human. This means that the provisions governing election or papal resignation must be subject to the greater welfare of the full Church. "In this case, it is the real existence of the visible head of the Church and the certainty of this existence in the eyes of the full body of the Church, clergy and faithful," he stressed.

The Catholic Church cannot function in the long run without the pope: the very nature of the Church requires that St. Peter's successor should be its head. This means even having to appoint bishops. "Accepting the anticipation of a vacancy of the Holy See for a long time (sedisvacantia papalis) simply leads to the spirit of sedevacantism. Sedevacantism is, ultimately, a sectarian and quasi-heretic phenomenon that has emerged in the last six decades due to problems with the Second Vatican Council, the Council popes and post-sobor popes," he pointed out.

The bishop pointed out that the highest law in the Church is spiritual goodness and the salvation of the faithful. Therefore, there is the rule of “supplet ecclesia” in the Church, or “the Church completes” or “sanatio in radice”, “healing to the root.” The point is that the Church completes this and corrects what is incompatible with human law erstwhile it comes to the relation of sacraments with jurisdiction. This besides applies to the election of the Pope.

"Sanatio in Radice, healing all the way to the root, besides includes an invalid papal choice, which is expressed in the peaceful universal acceptance of the fresh pope by the Episcopate and the Catholic people, and in the fact that specified a pope, elected even invalidally, is mentioned in the canon of Holy Mass by practically all Catholic clergy," he wrote.

As the hierarch emphasized, the past of the Church clearly shows the operation of this principle. "There have been cases of the Pope's manifestly illegal elections, that is, taking office in a null and void manner. For example, Pope Gregory VI was elected due to the fact that he bought Papacy for a large sum of money from his predecessor Benedict IX in 1045. Despite this, the Roman Church has always regarded Gregory VI as a legitimate pope. Even Hildebrand, who later became Pope Gregory VII, recognized Gregory VI as the final Pope, although he opposed the illegal way he gained Papacy," the bishop pointed out.

Another example is the choice of Urban VI, which was made under extraordinary force from the Roman people. "Some cardinals feared for their lives. This was the atmosphere of Urban VI's election in 1378. During the coronation of the fresh Pope, all cardinal-electors folded a homagium and recognized it as Pope during the first period of the pontificate. After a fewer months, any of them, especially the French, began to uncertainty the importance of choice due to the dangerous atmosphere and moral force they felt during the conclave. For this reason, they chose a fresh pope, called Clement VII, a Frenchman who chose Avignon as his seat. Clement VII and his successors were considered anti-cigarettes by the Roman Church. [...] The church has always regarded Urban VI as a legitimate pope, despite the likely invalid manner in which he was elected," he wrote.

There is another example, Celestine V and Boniface VIII. As Bishop Schneider wrote, Celestyn V resigned from office in 1294 under large force from influential Cardinal Benedetto Gaetani. It was Gaetani who was chosen to win Celestin and took the name Boniface VIII. any clergymen and believers refused to accept that choice. However, the Church felt that Bonifacy VIII was the final pope due to the fact that it was accepted by the overwhelming majority of the planet episcopate. In line with the rule of "sanatio in radice", the probable coercion of Celestin to resign and the illegal choice of Boniface proved to be little crucial than the good of the Church.

Bishop Schneider indicated that the same applies to Benedict XVI and Francis. "Only God can justice intentions," he said. In another words, it does not substance what motives Benedict had for giving up – whether he wanted to quit the Papacy, or possibly he wanted to keep any part of it. The rule applies: ‘De internis non judicat praetor’, i.e. the justice does not measure interior matters.

"The hypothesis of Benedict XVI's invalid resignation and hence Francis' invalid choice is simply a dead end. The Holy See would have been de facto vacant for 11 years. [...] The universal Church would so be paralyzed in its visible aspect. Taking specified a position would in practice lead to a sedevacantist attitude, ” he noted. This, in turn, would affect “the absolution of legalism, that is, in this case, human norms governing the resignation and election of the Pope – to the detriment of souls, as uncertainty about the validity of acts of power on the part of the Church would undermine its visible nature”, wrote the bishop.

So what should we do about the difficulties that Francis ’ pontificate poses?

"The appropriate way of responding to the confusion caused by Pope Francis' behaviour is by publically reproving him about errors. This must be done with all due respect," he pointed out. In addition, acts of reparation, prayers to God for the grace of conversion of the Pope, requests for divine intervention in the face of unprecedented crisis are necessary. "However, Pope Francis is clearly a valid pope," he stressed.

Source: LifeSiteNews.com

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