Vatican I: Dei Filius
Vatican I: "The Son of God, Redeemer of the human race, our Lord Jesus Christ, promised, when about to return to his heavenly Father, that He would be with this Church militant upon earth all days, even to the end of the world [Mt 28:20]. Hence never at any time has He ceased to stand by His beloved Bride, assisting Her when She teaches, blessing Her in Her labors and bringing Her help when She is in danger."[i]
The indefectibility of the Church is a dogma; it is an infallible teaching of the Sacred Magisterium. Jesus always stands by "His beloved Bride," the Church. Jesus is always "assisting Her when She teaches," and He always brings "Her help when She is in danger". Therefore, it is not possible that some danger, some plot or conspiracy has succeeded in perverting the teaching of the Bride of Christ. For Jesus is the Son of God. He is the Holy One, the True One. "He opens and no one closes. He closes and no one opens." (Rev 3:7).
There is a book called "Infiltration," which claims that the Church has been infiltrated, at the highest levels, by an evil conspiracy.[ii] Such a claim cannot be true because the Church is indefectible. Such an accusation falls not only on the Church, but on the Holy Spirit and on Christ. It is the same as when Jesus was accused of having a demon or of being insane:
[John]
{10:17} For this reason, the Father loves me: because I lay down my life, so that I may take it up again.
{10:18} No one takes it away from me. Instead, I lay it down of my own accord. And I have the power to lay it down. And I have the power to take it up again. This is the commandment that I have received from my Father."
{10:19} A dissension occurred again among the Jews because of these words.
{10:20} Then many of them were saying: "He has a demon or he is insane. Why do you listen him?"
The proper response to such an accusation against Jesus, that He has a demon (i.e. that He was possessed by Satan) is to reject it as a matter of Faith. And the same should be our response for the accusation of insanity. Now what if a similar accusation were made against the Church? It is a dogma of Faith that the Church is indefectible, that the Church is the body of Christ, that Jesus never ceases to stand by Her, to assist Her when She teaches, and to help Her when She is in danger. Therefore, the accusation cannot be true. It is contrary to the dogma of faith taught by Vatican I and contrary to the indefectibility of the Church.
The Church is not possessed by Satan. The Church has not been infiltrated by Satan, nor by a group of evil persons who are led by Satan, nor by any other type of evil conspiracy. For such an accusation is the same as accusing the Church of being possessed, the same as accusing Jesus of being possessed, by a demon. We believe as a matter of Faith that such an accusation cannot be true.
The teaching of the Church cannot at any time be the teaching of Satan, nor of freemasons or Satanists, nor of any evil conspiracy, nor of heretics or apostates or idolaters. For Jesus never ceases to assist His Church in Her teachings. This is the dogma taught by the First Vatican Council. It is not a theological opinion. It is not a matter that should be subject to endless foolish discussions on the internet. Faith teaches us to trust the Church and Her teachings, because Jesus always stands by His Church, and because the Church is the body of Christ. The Church cannot be taken over by an evil conspiracy, just as Jesus cannot be taken over by evil.
Dei Filius: "Everybody knows that those heresies, condemned by the fathers of Trent, which rejected the divine Magisterium of the Church and allowed religious questions to be a matter for the judgment of each individual, have gradually collapsed into a multiplicity of sects, either at variance or in agreement with one another; and by this means a good many people have had all faith in Christ destroyed."[iii]
The above text, from the First Vatican Council in 1870, exactly describes the situation today on the internet. Everyone feels free to judge every Pope, to accuse any Pope of any grave sin, to believe any accusation made against any Pope, without evidence or a consideration of his possible innocence, and to condemn any Pope for allegedly teaching heresy or committing idolatry. And they not only accuse Pope Francis, but other Popes, Ecumenical Councils, and the body of Bishops who support the Pope.
The teachings of Cardinals and Bishops are regarded as having no value, as if these were the mere opinions of students or ignorant persons. And when a question of faith or morals arises, the faithful today do not consider that they are obligated by faith to believe what the Church teaches. They instead believe whatever seems right to them, without even having studied the subject matter. They follow any of a number of internet or media personalities: heretical or schismatic Bishops, priests who openly oppose the Roman Pontiff, and various speakers, authors, bloggers, video bloggers and other commentators -- whose ideas are given far more weight than the teachings of the Magisterium or the teachings even of a Pope-Saint or an Ecumenical Council.
And what is the result? According to the prescient words of the First Vatican Council, such persons "have gradually collapsed into a multiplicity of sects, either at variance or in agreement with one another; and by this means a good many people have had all faith in Christ destroyed."[iv]
Yes, there are a wide range of different claims among the papal accusers. Some claim Benedict XVI is still the Pope. Others say Francis teaches heresy, but is somehow also the valid Pope. Still others say that Francis is an antipope. And then there are those who claim that all the recent Popes taught heresy, as did the Second Vatican Council. So they have in fact collapsed into a multiplicity of informal sects, and some have lost all faith in Christ. Yes, some of the leading papal accusers seem to have no faith in the Lord Jesus Christ at all. They speak of a great crisis and a great confusion and despair in their own souls. And this is the expected result when a Catholic rejects the successors of Peter and the successors of the other Apostles. For the one true Church is Apostolic. When you reject these successors, you reject the sole light of faith appointed by Christ for all peoples: the Church. You then fall into great darkness by your own choice.
Now this last point is quite important. These persons still call themselves Catholic. They go to Mass. They talk about religion online, and have raised themselves up to be teachers of religion. But they have "lost all faith in Christ". Their faith is only in their own understanding, or in the understanding of a subculture within the Church, such as the conservative subculture or the traditionalist subculture. Some follow whatever is the majority opinion in such a subculture. Others follow only their own ideas and understanding. But none of that is faith.
Faith is believing in the teachings of Jesus Christ and His Church, even when it is contrary to one's own reason. Faith accepts what reason would reject. If you only believe those teachings which are in agreement with your own mind and heart, then you have no faith at all. And you are not worshiping Jesus Christ. You are not worshiping God at all. The Apostles believed that Jesus was the Messiah, the Son of God, and so they accepted teachings which were difficult to understanding and to accept. But the faithless walked away, when the teachings were too difficult.
[John]
{6:61} Therefore, many of his disciples, upon hearing this, said: "This saying is difficult," and, "Who is able to listen to it?"
{6:62} But Jesus, knowing within himself that his disciples were murmuring about this, said to them: "Does this offend you?
{6:63} Then what if you were to see the Son of man ascending to where he was before?
{6:64} It is the Spirit who gives life. The flesh does not offer anything of benefit. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life.
{6:65} But there are some among you who do not believe." For Jesus knew from the beginning who were unbelieving and which one would betray him.
{6:66} And so he said, "For this reason, I said to you that no one is able to come to me, unless it has been given to him by my Father."
{6:67} After this, many of his disciples went back, and they no longer walked with him.
{6:68} Therefore, Jesus said to the twelve, "Do you also want to go away?"
{6:69} Then Simon Peter answered him: "Lord, to whom would we go? You have the words of eternal life.
{6:70} And we have believed, and we recognize that you are the Christ, the Son of God."
{6:71} Jesus answered them: "Have I not chosen you twelve? And yet one among you is a devil."
{6:72} Now he was speaking about Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon. For this one, even though he was one of the twelve, was about to betray him.
Similarly today, many refuse to believe any teaching of the Church, if it is contrary to their own understanding or that of their peer group. The teaching of the indefectible Church, the one holy Catholic and Apostolic Church, is the teaching of Christ. And those who reject Pope Francis or his teachings, those who reject other Popes and even reject one or more Ecumenical Councils, they do not have faith. Some have lost all Faith in Christ, and what they have is nothing but vain confidence in their own ideas.
Do they have the infused theological virtue of faith at all? Some are very weak in faith, and this infused virtue is languishing within them. Others have lost that faith entirely. But if anyone had, at some point in time, the state of grace and the three theological virtues (love, faith, and hope), and then later he lost faith, he must also have lost love and hope. Any actual mortal sin causes the loss of at least love and hope. Often faith remains, and then love and hope are restored with repentance and forgiveness from God. But an actual mortal sin against faith itself results in the loss of all three virtues.
As I said, some of these poor lost souls, who speak with grandiose condemnation of Popes, and Pope-Saints, and Councils, still have a glimmer of faith, and so they might be still in the state of grace. But they are not far from actual mortal sin. And many others have lost the state of grace and have lost love, faith, and hope. This is clearly seen in their behavior. They speak with malice and hatred toward the successors of Peter. They show no regard for the holiness or authority of any Popes, even Popes who are also Saints. They treat all who disagree with great contempt, ridicule, and malice. They show no charity when speaking of the alleged errors and sins of the Roman Pontiffs. And this is because, having sinned gravely against the infused theological virtue of faith, by rejecting the teachings of the Magisterium and the authority of the Roman Pontiffs, they have lost love and hope.
Vatican I: "Indeed even the Holy Bible itself, which they at one time claimed to be the sole source and judge of the Christian faith, is no longer held to be divine, but they begin to assimilate it to the inventions of myth."[v]
The Magisterium is the authoritative interpreter of Scripture. The Bible, Sacred Scripture, is infallible in all that it asserts as true, on any and all subjects about which the Bible makes an assertion. But those who lack faith laugh at this teaching. Then there are those who, having little or no faith, feign belief in the infallibility of Sacred Scripture, and only believe their own interpretation. If the Magisterium teaches an interpretation of Scripture with which they disagree, they do not accept it.
Dei Filius: "For just as God wills all people to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth [1 Tim 2:4], just as Christ came to save what was lost [Lk 19:10] and to gather into one the children of God who were scattered abroad [Jn 11:52], so the Church, appointed by God to be Mother and Mistress of nations, recognizes her obligations to all and is always ready and anxious to raise the fallen, to steady those who stumble, to embrace those who return, and to strengthen the good and urge them on to what is better. Thus She can never cease from witnessing to the truth of God which heals all [Wisdom 16:12] and from declaring it, for She knows that these words were directed to Her: 'My spirit which is upon you, and my words which I have put in your mouth, shall not depart out of your mouth from this time forth and for evermore.' [Is 59:21]"[vi]
From this time forward and forever more, from the time when Peter became the first Roman Pontiff, the Popes have never ceased to teach the truth and have never failed in faith. This is the teaching of Sacred Scripture interpreted infallibly by the First Vatican Council. Whoever accuses the Church or the Popes or the Councils of going astray is a heretic and a schismatic.
If the Church could be led astray, or could lead the faithful astray by Her teachings, then how could the above dogmatic teaching of Vatican I be true? The teaching of the Church cannot lead us astray. The teaching of the Church cannot err gravely. For God has appointed the Catholic Church, and none other, to teach the Faith to the whole world. She never ceases to witness to the truth. Therefore, the Church can never teach grave error. She never ceases to declare the truth. Therefore, the Pope and the body of Bishops, who are the Teachers of the Church, who are the only ones who can exercise the Magisterium of the Church, can never teach grave error. For the Spirit of the Lord, the Holy Spirit sent by Jesus Christ upon His Church at Pentecost, never ceases to be with the Church and to aid the Magisterium in its teaching.
And so, the First Vatican Council, authoritatively and infallibly interpreting Sacred Scripture, teaches that these words apply to the Church: "My spirit which is upon you, and my words which I have put in your mouth, shall not depart out of your mouth from this time forth and for evermore. [Is 59:21]" Therefore, the Church can never teach grave error. And since the Church teaches only through the Roman Pontiff and the Bishops, neither the Pope nor the body of Bishops can teach grave error.
An individual Bishop can go astray and teach grave error, but not the body of Bishops. For if the body of Bishops had gone astray, then the Church would have gone astray. The Church could not be said to be indefectible if the Bishops, as a body, had ever gone astray. And the Roman Pontiff cannot go astray and teach grave error either. For if the head of the Church had gone astray, then the Church could not be said to be indefectible. Similarly, the body of Bishops cannot go astray by following a false head, such as an antipope or an invalid pope. For if the head is false and the body follows the head, the Church would not be indefectible.
Notice the words of Sacred Scripture applied by the Council to the Church: "my words," which means the teaching of Jesus Christ, the Word of God, "shall not depart out of your mouth from this time forth and forevermore." Therefore, the Church can never go astray by teaching grave error, neither in the teachings of the Popes, nor in the teachings of the body of Bishops.
"Ah-ha! But what about this historical situation, or that historical case!" the papal accusers say. There is always a story that contradicts a teaching of the Faith. Storytelling is one of the very favorite tools of heretics and schismatics. They claim that 300 Bishops went astray into Arianism. That is not true. Rather, the Bishops were forced by the emperor of that time, under threat of death, to sign an heretical document. But signatures under grave duress are not valid, even in secular courts, and are not valid teachings. Heresy must be obstinate; signing under grave duress is not any kind of heresy. Also, the Pope refused to sign at all, even under that threat from the Roman emperor. So the claim that the body of Bishops went astray into Arianism is false.
The papal accusers claim that this Pope or that Pope went astray into heresy. Saint Robert Bellarmine wrote a lengthy text on every Pope accused of any grave failure of faith, and he exonerates them all, including John XXII and Honorius I and the rest. Then he concludes that God would never permit any Pope to go astray.[vii]
In the New Testament, Saint Paul asks Timothy to speak strongly "against those who have been paying attention to fables and endless genealogies." (1 Tim 1:4). Then later he tells Timothy to "avoid the silly fables of old women." (1 Tim 4:7). And later, the Apostle Paul warns Timothy, in his second letter, about the same type of error, of telling stories in order to lead people away from sound doctrine:
[2 Timothy 4]
{4:1} I testify before God, and before Jesus Christ, who shall judge the living and the dead through his return and his kingdom:
{4:2} that you should preach the word urgently, in season and out of season: reprove, entreat, rebuke, with all patience and doctrine.
{4:3} For there shall be a time when they will not endure sound doctrine, but instead, according to their own desires, they will gather to themselves teachers, with itching ears,
{4:4} and certainly, they will turn their hearing away from the truth, and they will be turned toward fables.
We are in that time. Many Catholics do not endure sound doctrine. They accuse Pope after Pope of grave error. They speak about the alleged errors of one Council after another. They believe only what agrees with their own desires. They choose teachers for themselves who teach what their listeners wish to hear. And so they are "turned toward fables".
This storytelling is found, for example, in the story of the conclave which elected Pope Francis. It is claimed that a group of Cardinals, called the St. Gallen Mafia, were plotting against the Church. And what was the evil insidious conspiracy?! To elect Pope Francis! That's not evil. Francis is saintly and orthodox. That's not the work of any group that should be compared to organized crime ("mafia"). And similar stories are told about the election of Pope Saint John Paul II, by those who dislike his teachings. They thought that John Paul II was too liberal, so they tell stories to discredit his election.
Similarly, stories are told to discredit Vatican II. The specifics of the stories don't matter. The end result of the story is to cause the faithful to distrust the Magisterium. Don't trust Pope So-and-so because his conclave was manipulated by evil persons. Don't trust the only Ecumenical Council that occurred during our lifetime, because some of the advisers to the Bishops were liberals, with liberal theology. The Bishops are said to have been tricked into teaching these liberal errors, as if the Bishops -- most of whom have Ph.D.s or Doctorates in Sacred Theology or the like -- can't tell sound theology from error.
But the main reason you should not listen to such stories is that the Holy Spirit teaches through the Popes and the Bishops. It doesn't matter if a particular Pope is a fallen sinner, with certain faults or character flaws. In many cases, accusations against Popes are false and are simply invented by their theological or political enemies. It is uncharitable and intellectually dishonest to treat every such accusation against a Pope as if it were true. But Popes are sinners, and that does not keep the Holy Spirit from teaching the truth -- without any grave error in non-infallible teachings and without any error at all in the infallible teachings.
The reason that these stories, which are aimed at discrediting the teaching authority of the Church, are effective is that people are filled with pride. They want to believe their own ideas over any contrary ideas taught by the Church. So if a story functions to discredit a teaching of the Church that they dislike, they accept the story as an excuse, a rationalization, so that they do not have to exercise the virtues of humility and faith. They should accept the teachings of the Church, even those teachings contrary to what they had previously thought to be true. But that is difficult. It's easier and more pleasing to imagine that one's own views are right, and the Church or the Council or the Pope has gone astray.
Over time, it becomes quite clear who is right and who is wrong. The teachings of Vatican II have continued to be taught by the successive Popes and the body of Bishops in the world, as one position definitively to be held. This makes the teachings of the Second Vatican Council infallible under the ordinary and universal Magisterium. So when Pope Francis teaches the very same teaching as Pope Saint John XXIII and Pope Saint Paul VI and the Second Vatican Council and Pope Saint John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI, it take an exercise of severe pride and blatant intellectual dishonesty to imagine that Francis is teaching heresy. The teaching that freedom of religion is a fundamental human right is one such teaching. When an Ecumenical Council and several Popes and the body of Bishops continually teach one and the same teaching, they are the ones who are right. For they exercise the teaching authority of Christ by the ability given to them in the Holy Spirit.
Heed the teachings of the First Vatican Council. The Church cannot go astray and teach grave error. For the Spirit continually teaches through the Magisterium of the Church. And if some such teaching is contrary to your own ideas, why don't you be like the unfaithful disciples in the 6th chapter of the Gospel of John and walk away? But if you decide to stay, don't fool yourself. The teachings of the Popes and Councils are the teaching of Jesus Christ, just as if the Lord were teaching Peter and the other Apostles in person, as they walked together toward Jerusalem.
[i] Vatican I, Dei Filius, Introduction, n. 1. [ii] Marshall, Taylor. "Infiltration: The Plot to Destroy the Church from Within." Sophia Institute Press. Kindle Edition. [iii] Vatican I, Dei Filius, Introduction, n. 5. [iv] Ibid. [v] Vatican I, Dei Filius, Introduction, n. 6. [vi] Dei Filius, Introduction, n. 9. [vii] Bellarmine, Robert. "Papal Error?: A Defense of Popes said to have Erred in Faith." trans. Ryan Grant. Mediatrix Press. Kindle Edition.
the above is an excerpt from my forthcoming book … to be continued…
Ronald L Conte Jr.
Hi Mr. Conte, i've recently found your work and have really learned a lot. Regarding the scenario of a heretic being elected pope - would the same argument apply - Indefectibility and never failing faith would prevent it? Any other thought you have on that would be great.
Hi Ronald, thank you for your writing which I have been reading for a while. I did the RCIA last year and one of the things I agonised most over before converting was the doctrine of infallibility, precisely because whenever I researched it on the internet I found so many (mainly American) Catholic websites, blogs etc. accusing Francis of heresy. It made me doubt infallibility and in turn Catholicism in general. It even made me start to believe that the Pope wasn't a good Catholic! The writers don't realise how much damage they are doing to the faith. Thankfully, I came across your website and it helped me to see sense. I have a couple of questions about the widespread dissent in the Church: 1. is the level of dissent among clergy and bishops a modern phenomenon or is it just that people's views are more widely publised in today's world? I'm thinking particularly of the German bishops who seem to be openly and publicly contradicting Church teaching, mainly on marriage and communion. 2. do you think that God is using Pope Francis to draw out previously-hidden dissenters on both sides, by emboldening liberals and aggravating conservatives? It occurred to me that perhaps God is using the Holy Father to bring dissent and heresy within the Church out into the light in order to purify it. Is this something you believe?