1. What is he?
Pope Francis had been described in many ways; from Pope to heretic. And he had been really a cause of great confusion lately that many cannot make out what he is. They say he is gay for having seen him wearing the rainbow insignia of the gay movement and walking hand in hand with a gay priest in the Vatican gardens. He had been called a Protestant for introducing a new kind of Christianity based on his book ‘Church of compassion and mercy’ which is very Protestant.
2. The first serious accusation.
One of the earliest accusation is that Pope Francis’ election was invalid for the violation of Conclave rules. A conclave rule made by Pope John Paul II prohibited cardinals to campaign in any way and for any group to agree with any candidate for any course of action alien to the sanctification of the Church.
Cardinals Martini, Daneels, Kasper et al, who opposed Joseph Ratzinger and lost continued to push their agenda during the last conclave by campaigning for a course of action with Mario Bergoglio in starting a new protestant sect based on the spirit of the world. Having won the papacy based on this violation of conclave rule, some feel Bergoglio’s election was invalid.
This seems difficult to prove so nobody have pursued this venue.
3. Another popular writer introduced the invalidity of the resignation of Pope Benedict which would make the Papacy of Francis, also, invalid. The main argument consist in an analysis of the resignation letter of Pope Benedict. This is, also, quite difficult to pursue.
4. Lately, the more popular basis used for doubting the papacy of Francis is heresy. The Catholic Church has a list of heresies found in the Syllabus of Pius IX and Pius X. While almost every cardinal, bishop and priest can be seen as guilty of one heresy or another, it appeared that Pope Francis is guilty of several serious heresies specially liberalism, modernism and apostasy based on his behavior during the last two Bishop’s Synod. This is easy to prove and had been proven by a few very good theologians, one of whom is Cardinal Arinze, former head of the Congregation of worship and the sacraments.
If Pope Francis is guilty of heresy, he cannot be Pope because a heretic cannot be head of the Catholic Church.
The hierarchy, no longer used to study and condemn heresies, can hardly pursue this line of thinking.
5. Newsweek came up with this rhetorical question which is worthwhile pursuing. ‘Is Pope Francis Catholic?’ If this question can be answered it will settle all the issues confronting the confusing Papacy of Pope Francis.
Can this question be answered? Of all the queries above pertaining to the state of the papacy of Pope Francis, this is the easiest question to answer; and this will resolve all the questions raised on the papacy of Francis and lay the above issues to rest.
6. Answering the question of Newsweek.
Yes, the Catholic Church has the capability of answering that question; and with great facility and clarity. Because of the so-called visible signs of the true Church mentioned in the Nicene Creed that Catholics recite every Sunday at Mass. ‘I believe in One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church.’
That is the only way a Church can be recognized as Catholic and a person be identified as Catholic. It is the only way a Diocese or a parish can be identified as Catholic. It is the only way the occupant in the Vatican can be recognized as Catholic.
There are many other ways but this is considered classically as the most reliable visible sign of Catholicity. If these signs are present, it is Catholic and everything else follows. If these signs are absent it is not Catholic and everything else follows.
Newsweek asked the right question. It gave some answers supporting that he is not Catholic but gave unconvincing answers. Then the journal gave reasons why he is Catholic but they are not the doctrines mentioned in the Nicene Creed. So at the end of the article the question remained unanswered.
7. Why is it easy to answer that question.
The visible signs of the true Church was given by God to His Church from the very beginning, so all men can visibly recognize the true Church easily and immediately. So that all men may be converted and enter His true Church for the salvation of their souls.
These four signs, One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic……are signs visible to the senses. Even the blind can know the true Church. And since the salvation of souls depends on knowing and having these signs, God made it easy for all men to know these signs…..but quite difficult to possess these signs.
8. Knowing and having these signs.
It takes very little effort to know and understand these signs; though it is quite difficult to possess these signs. It is easy to know and understand these signs, and God made it so for the benefit of man’s salvation. In effect, it is easy for a person to know if he has these signs or not. And it is easy, also, for any person to know if others have it or not……precisely because they are visible, human signs meant to be recognized by all men.
It is man’s obligation to know if he has the four visible signs; also, to know if his wife and children have these signs, for obvious reasons. He should know if his parish priest and diocesan bishop has these signs, otherwise he should have nothing to do with them. But most important all Catholics should know if the Pope has the four visible signs. Yes, we can know if he is Catholic with the Catholic Church’s ancient visible signs recited during Sunday Mass.
9. Other expanded explanation.
The four visible signs in the Nicene Creed is slightly difficult to understand. Some good theology is needed to do so. So some Fathers of the Church expanded on the same four signs so that most men can easily understand them. St. Augustine expanded then into six, while St. Jerome reduced them in two. St. Vincent of Lerin into three while Diredo and Pedro de Soto added three others. Nicholas Sanders expanded them into six while Miguel de Medina into eleven. Gunter of Peter places twelve visible signs. My favorite is S. Robert Bellarmine’s 15 Marks of the true Church. With these 15 marks one can with great certainty judge if one is a Catholic or if a Church is truly Catholic.
10. So, if we wish to find the possible answer to the above questions the four visible signs of the Nicene Creed or the 15 Marks of the Church of St. Robert Bellarmine, is the only way to get the answer. And from there we can make the other conclusions.
This is the challenge. To answer the above question we must first ask ourselves; ‘are we Catholics.’ From there we can safely go to asking the question; ‘is the Pope Catholic.’ And from here we can proceed to, is our parish priest, is our bishops, is our cardinal, etc, etc…Catholic? And spend the rest of our lives with sleepless nights, because the answer will shock us.
11. So? Is he or is he not?
First, ask yourself that question. Then, ask yourself if Pope Francis is or is not. Unless you answer the first question you cannot answer the second.