1. The enigma of the two Popes.
This issue arose before and we presented an easy way of resolving it. It is an important issue. And it arose because of the very confusing atmosphere in the Church today during the Papacy of Pope Francis. Who is the Pope? Are there two Popes?
The first argument presented was that Pope Benedict did not really fully resign his office, but just the managerial aspect of his office. The argument was based on the resignation letter of Pope Benedict. If he really did not resign then we have two Popes. Another argument presented was the invalidity of the election of Bergoglio due to some uncanonical procedures. And so we have no Pope or Pope Benedict is still the Pope.
Many conjectures have arisen after those debates but none was fully defended. Even Cardinal Arinse came up with a ‘sede vacante’ stand because of the ‘liberalism’ heresy of Pope Francis, which leaves us without a Pope. So far no argument had progressed though they stand as they are with the potential to move towards any direction.
2. Suddenly Archbishop Ganswein speaks.
Archbishop Ganswein is the constant companion of Pope Benedict XVI. Surely they converse about important events. Considering that Pope Benedict is still very alert and filled with knowledge and wisdom, the comment of Archbishop Ganswein carries weight.
He mentioned the possibility of an expanded Petrine Office with two heads. Calling one Simon and the other head Peter. The idea is fascinating. But he added an element to the discussion that gave it a clear direction.
In the earlier debate, there was a growing consensus that Pope Benedict did not resign based on an analysis of his resignation letter. But here we have words from Archbishop Ganswein that surely would have come from Pope Benedict that he really did not resign. This confirms the fact that Popes really never resign their office as shown by Pope John Paul II. This is based on the theological fact that the papacy is the Will of God and no one can resign from doing God’s Will.
If Pope Benedict did not really resign the spiritual aspect of his Petrine Office, where will Pope Francis be? Archbishop Ganswein placed him in the same level as Pope Benedict. Though he defined Benedict’s role as contemplative while Francis’ role as active. So we have a diarchy, one Pope with two ministries.
Archbishop Ganswein is trying to say something which is not so clear right now but its direction is clear. He is speaking unclearly to force us to make a conclusion. That is very good pedagogy.
His comment that there is one Pope with two ministries is not Catholic doctrine. There is no such thing. It was the Archbishop’s graceful way out in not rocking the boat while proclaiming the fact unacceptable to the present Papacy that Pope Benedict is still Pope. He wanted the reader to make the conclusion.
3. The syllogism
If we take the elements of what the Archbishop revealed and go to the conclusion what should our conclusion be? Let us go back to the facts. We have two Popes. Both are in the Vatican, both are called Popes, both are dressed as Popes. And it is difficult to say that one is retired and the other is not. Most of the acceptable arguments points to the fact that we really have two Popes. And the problem is that this cannot happen in the Catholic Church. The Church can only have one Pope. And therein the problem lies. How do you resolve that problem? And Archbishop Ganswein offered the ‘One Pope with two heads’ solution, which we know and the bishop knows cannot be. He wishes to lead us to proceed and make a conclusion from what he said.
4. Test the two Popes.
The Catholic Church has a very good test made by God Himself, to test the Catholicity of any person or church. This is the four visible sign mentioned in the Nicene Creed. And these four signs had been expanded by many Fathers of the Church. But my favourite is the expanded 15 Marks of the Church by St. Robert Bellarmine. These 15 Marks are just the expanded version of the four visible signs.
These signs not only shows us what are the signs of a true Catholic, it, also, shows what differs a Catholic from all other groups. This double function of the visible signs makes it a very reliable sign of who is a Catholic. If we use these signs it will resolve many of the problems besetting the Church today.
Though we recite the Nicene Creed every Sunday Mass, many Catholic do not really know what those signs mean, so they are unable to use them for analysing many of our problems.
Even as early as the first debate on the enigma of the two Popes we have already suggested to use these visible signs. We have used them and published our results.
If we have two Popes and we would want to resolve the problems surrounding this fact, apply the four visible signs on the two Popes. We did this and we saw that one Pope had all the four visible signs while the other did not have even one of the visible signs.
To confirm the findings we applied the 15 Marks of the true Church by St. Robert Bellarmine on the two Popes again and the result is the same. One had all the 15 signs, while the other did not have even one of the 15 Marks.
We shall not say the results because we would like everybody to try it themselves because it is easy. These signs are visible signs made so by God so everybody can use them to know which is the true Church. So everybody can easily use these signs. An easy understanding of these signs can be learned from the commentary of St. Thomas of Aquinas on the ‘Credo.’ Read them then apply them on the two Popes. If you have more time, read St. Robert Bellarmine’s book on ‘The Marks of the true Church’ that have been recently translated into English and is easy reading. Then apply it again on the two Popes.
You can apply these signs on any person it you want to find out if he is a true Catholic. Apply them on your parish priest, your diocesan bishop, on you husband and wife, on your children, etc. You should because their salvation depends on whether they are Catholics or not.
5. Conclusions.
If among the two Popes one has all the visible signs of Catholicity, then he is a Catholic. And if he is a Pope then he is a true Pope. If one does not have the visible signs, then he is not a Catholic. So if we pick up the reasoning of Archbishop Ganswein and proceed to its conclusion, we shall reach this conclusion.
In this discussion on the enigma of the two Popes, these visible signs of the true Church found in the Nicene Creed was not used by anyone. And yet if this is used, it answers all questions and resolve all arguments. And we should really resolve this very important question because only by doing so can we proceed in peace in our spiritual life.
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