1. The discussion on the Papacy of Benedict XVI.
Everybody has not gone over the fact that Pope Benedict had resigned from the Papacy. Why did he resign? And with the things going on now in the Vatican, the cry is getting louder. Why? Up to now articles had been appearing suggesting reasons why he resigned. I cannot help getting involved in the discussion because this issue must be settled. So much depend in the resolution of this issue; in fact, the very salvation of souls. But few had realized this. Nobody is bothered by it. And this unresolved issue is very disturbing.
We had entered into this discussions from the very beginning and we have made a stand basing our reasoning from Divine Revelation, specially on the prophecies from Scriptures; and then confirmed our stand from the writings of the Fathers, Saints and spiritual writers, together with the messages of the Blessed Virgin during her approved apparitions.
2. First consideration: The ascetico-theological principle.
This principle states that one who knows the ‘Will of God’ will never resign from doing God’s Will. No one can resign from the work of preaching the Word of God, or resign from saving souls, or resign from guiding the Church or resign from doing battle for the Church or resign from being Charitable or resign from being human or resign from being a saint. St. Thomas wrote that a bishop cannot resign being a bishop; he is obliged to continue becoming a perfect bishop.
To resign doing God’s will can redound to one’s damnation. Popes know this. And it is for this reason that no Pope had ever resigned. Knowing the work of the Pope, it is unimaginable that he would resign. To do so is like imposing one’s own personal will against the Will of God.
Pope John Paul II was totally incapable of running the Papacy during his last days but he knew he had to remain as Pope up to the end because that was God’s Will.
The case of Pope Celestine had not been analyzed in depth. Being a holy monk he was doing his Papal job up to the end. Basing it on the above principle, Celestine never resigned, as we shall clarify a little later. Pope Benedict, being a holy man, cannot resign from doing God’s will that has no expiry date.
It is possible for God to withdraw his favor from a chosen soul if that soul is unfaithful to his calling as in the case of King Saul. But none of the Popes that we know were unfaithful to their calling. Definitely not Pope Benedict XVI. So it is impossible for God to have withdrawn his election from Pope Benedict. Knowing how knowledgeable Benedict was in both ascetical and dogmatic theology, he had no valid reason for resigning from doing God’s Will. It is impossible that God had told him to do so, unless he did a King Saul, which evidently he never did. In his situation there is absolute nothing that can be seen why God would ask him to resign.
It is for this reason that many were shocked at his resignation and it was a greater shock for those who have more knowledge. He cannot do that!! As this article progress we shall see that he did not do that.
3. Second consideration; The Sedevacante.
The Sedevacantist movement is a group who believe that the chair of the Pope is vacant; i.e. that there is no Pope, that his seat is vacant. This occurs usually between the death of a previous Pope until the election of the new Pope. They say the seat of the Pope is vacant canonically. But is it vacant in reality, considering that it is God who appoints Popes.
From the beginning, God had always selected the Popes often working through the previous Popes; like when St. Peter selected his successor. God does not wait for a Conclave to select a Pope. He chooses who is the Pope without informing the press. Because the Papacy is an important ingredient of the Mystical Body of Christ. The Pope must confirm the Church in her Faith. He cannot leave it empty even for a while. So God either selects the Pope using the previous Pope as Pope John Paul II selected Ratzinger when he was very ill, and that appointment was valid or God simply selects Whoever He wants and just reconfirms His selection during the following Conclave. In effect, there was a Pope even before the Conclave.
When a Pope passes away, as in earlier times, he selects the next Pope. That was the practice in the Church until the unhealthy entry of Democracy where the Popes were elected through a Conclave. That was never God’s way. That was the human modernistic way. Nevertheless God had used this human conclave to accomplish His Will. But He never waits for a Conclave to chose a Pope.
When God intervenes in this way nobody knows who is the Pope except living saints. Usually, the same person is eventually selected by a Conclave.
There was never a moment when the Church did not have a Pope. Maybe, politically or canonically speaking there was no Pope, but in reality there is always a Pope. It is possible that God may chose His own Pope and the Conclave chose another Pope. This should explain the many questions about the papacy in the past. The historian’s list of Popes does not necessarily tally with God’s own list of Popes.
Keep in mind that it was never God’s plan to select the Popes through the conclave. God, always, selected the Pope He Willed and He had clearly showed His direct interventions during Conclaves. In the fourth consideration we shall show how to detect God’s chosen Pope.
4. Third consideration; The split in Papal rule. St. Peter in the roof.
The Papal office is a spiritual office; an office meant to help souls find their spiritual God. There is absolutely nothing worldly in this office. But the Church, though not of this world is IN THE world. So the Church has worldly activities being in the world; but have the more important spiritual activity of saving soul.
St. Peter while praying at the roof top distinguish the two activities; emphasizing the importance of the spiritual activity over the worldly activity. Presented with the problem of the Greek widows Peter told the Church to appoint deacon for the worldly activities because he must concentrate on the work studying and preaching the Word of God. The separation of the two roles of the Church was clear and who must attend to them. The Popes must concentrate on Divine Revelation, the deacons may help with the widows, the immigrants, the Lutherans, the Evangelicals and the divorcees.
After the first Pope and during Constantine the Great, most of the Popes combined the two conflicting roles. And this was the cause of so many problems for the Church until during the Papacy of Pius IX God sent a clear message; ‘No more politics, widows and migrants. She suddenly lost all her political domain. The Church was left with only one thing; her spiritual rule over the Church. Suddenly she could do her one most important job full time without the encumbrances of being a king and a president. Though, like the hard headed Jews, the Vatican continued with such secular matters like secularism and socialism in liberation theology, still thinking of poor widows and poor migrants while completely disregarding the primary job of studying and preaching the Words of God.
History clearly showed with those events in the 18th century onward that the political aspect of the Papacy was not important and can be set aside for the greater welfare of the Church. The Church have ceased to be an empire with a King. She became what she should have been, a spiritual kingdom on this world but not of the world. But that was a lesson most bishops could not learn, who continued to be little princes and dukes that prevented them from their more important spiritual obligations.
The world was not interested in heaven; it wanted to make the earth its heaven. It was being fooled into believing that Charity is feeding the Greek widows and not in the Love of the Incarnate Word of God. So unlike St. Peter, the first Pope.
Vatican II was filled with prince and dukes out to reclaim their own little kingdom where their own personal whims reign; allowing adulteries all over, same sex couples roaming around, atheists assured of their salvation, and heretics destined to sit side by side with angels in heaven. There was a cardinal surge to abolish the difficult Church of Christ preached by the apostles and substitute it with an entirely man made Protestant sect made up of parts manufactured from all over the world but assembled in Argentina.
This was no human battle; not even a battle among barbarians. It was a battle between the spiritual forces of evil and of good. A battle first mentioned in Genesis between the serpent and the Woman. Ratzinger was, at first, naivete. He thought it was just a theological debate between theological schools like Bologna and Milan, between theologians like Hans Kung and Octaviani.
In his book ‘Highlights of Vatican II’ Ratzinger saw that the road to eternal life had become bumpy and unsure. Though the defenders of the Old Religion fought hard, the errors of their opponents somehow entered the documents. The documents were filled with minefields ready to explode at the lightest touch.
5. Fourth consideration; The four visible signs of the Church from the Nicene Creed. What Pope Benedict saw.
A reliable guide to the truth is; ‘is it Catholic or not?’ But how can we know if it is Catholic? By the four visible signs mentioned both in the Nicene Creed and the Catechism. These signs were expanded and better explained by the saints, like St. Augustine who expanded the four signs into six and St. Robert Bellarmine who expanded the four signs into 15 marks.
During Vatican II, Ratzinger saw that the Church was going the wrong way. But he was young and hoped that the error could be corrected. And he tried during the Council.
He continued to work hard to direct the Church in the right direction as head of the CDF condemning those of doubtful orthodoxy. Of course, today he is seeing that all those he had condemned are being rewarded, raised to high Vatican positions and bestowed with honors. Let us not go too much ahead.
As Pope he used the full power of his office to direct the Church in the right direction. His encyclicals taught us the original teachings of Christ on how to be saved. His audiences on the Fathers and catechesis confirmed all the original teachings of Christ and the Apostles. He restored the Liturgy in her original beauty. He did everything to restore the Church in the right direction. But ‘everything’ was not enough. The cancer was malignant. It was fourth stage. It was hopeless.
Benedict was a theologian. He knew the signs of the true Catholic Church as enumerated in the Nicene Creed. He explained them in his ‘compendium.’ He, also, knew the other signs mentioned by St. Augustine and probably knew the 15 marks of the Church by St. Robert Bellarmine. He saw the signs were nowhere in the Church of the Vatican.
But he knew it must be somewhere because the Church cannot disappear from the face of the earth. He is known to have looked for her closely among the new ecclesial communities. The Neo-cathecumenical way, the Charismatics, etc. He asked every bishop who came for their ‘ad limina’ visit if they had a church or community that corresponds to the Church described by St. Bonaventure. No one had seen such a Church. In fact, most bishops did not know what the Pope was talking about.
6. Pope Benedict’s conclusion. What he did.
Like St. Peter, the first Pope, the Church of the Vatican approached him complaining about the Greek Widows, the Syrian immigrants, the Mexican laborers, the adulterers, the unemployed youth and sad elderlies. And Benedict tells them; ‘my work is to save their souls for heaven. Not to give them food or jobs or new husbands and wives. Let the deacons do that. If some cardinals and bishops are free, let them help. They can even dress up like popes if they wish. But my work as Vicar of Christ is to contemplate and preach the Word of God.
So Benedict split the office of the Papacy as St. Peter did on the roof top. He could not be the Pope of the worldly aspect of the office that did not have the four visible signs of the true Church. So he set up its presidency for grabs between the cardinals of South America and Manila. Anyway Benedict knew he did not belong to it and, therefore, he has no business being its head.
But Benedict knew it was God’s Will that he be head of the true Church with the four visible signs. He had to find that Church that, also, has the 15 Marks of the Church described by St. Robert Bellarmine. St. Bonaventure described that Church, too. And Bonaventure’s treatise was Ratzinger’s thesis. He should know it. Those visible signs were placed there by God precisely for all men to be able to easily find her.
Isn’t the picture in the Vatican very clear? We have two persons in white. One praying for the Church like Peter. The other one caring for widows, adulterers and immigrants. The former is called Pope ’emeritus’. The other one is called Bishop of Rome. Well?
7. Conclusion.
I have read the aching hearts of Catholics faced with the confusion in the Church today. They do not know what is going on and they do not know what to do. The four principles mentioned above are from the Doctrine of Divine Providence. They will clarify and explain what is going on in the Church today. It will guide anyone walking through the labyrinth road the Church is treading. It will even show the end of the road, eternal salvation, that all men of good will is looking forward to.
When the Church was tossed by a storm, like now, didn’t St. Peter, the first Pope, leave the boat (the Vatican) for a while to go to Christ and beg Him in prayer to save the boat? Then didn’t St. Peter, the first Pope, return to the boat with Christ and brought the boat to the shore, which St. John in his last chapter in the last Gospel described as the end of the story of which nothing else follows?