1. Teaching catechism
I am teaching the ‘Compendium’ of the catechism of Pope Benedict XVI when the topic on the four visible signs of the Catholic Church caught my attention. This is part of the the Nicene Creed; ‘I believe in One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church.’ I, always had the impression that all Christian sects would have these same signs until I noticed that these were four visible signs exclusively belonging to the Catholic Church and which differentiates the Catholic Church from all other religions and sects.
These visible signs were not chosen by the Catholic Church. It was instituted by God, Himself, from the beginning of time. Today even the Catholic Church does not have them.
It gradually dawned on me that this is the only way the Catholic Church can be picked out from the many christian sects and the true Catholics from the fake Catholics. Only the true Church have these visible signs, no one else have them. The ones who have these visible signs are Catholics and those who do not have them are not Catholics. This should be very clear.
2. Study the signs carefully.
So we mastered these four signs mentioned in the Nicene Creed; One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic. A cursory search in the Internet and we found an avalanche of different signs of all religions presenting their own versions of signs. But Catholics are supposed to stick to the visible signs in the Nicene Creed. They are the most convincing visible signs of the true Church because they were established by God and not by Catholics.
3. Aiming the visible signs at oneself.
The four visible signs mentioned in the Nicene Creed is slightly difficult to understand. So let us use its expanded version according to St. Robert Bellarmine described in 15 Marks. These are easier to understand and easier to apply; but remember these are just the expanded version of the four visible signs from the Nicene Creed.
The first natural thing to do is to find out if I am a Catholic. All attempts to convince myself that I am a Catholic failed. I did not have three of the visible signs. The more visible signs the better. But I only had ‘one,’ ‘One’ because I am one but that was not what it meant. So 0 out of four.
4. Aiming the visible signs outside of self.
I tried to apply these visible signs to the religious monastic congregation I belong to. Note my observation: I, also, could not find any of the visible signs of the true Church in my order. Of course, if my monastic congregation has the visible signs, I, being a member, should, also, imbibe those same signs. Though it is possible for my monastic congregation to have the signs while I don’t have them, myself, since it is possible for the congregation to be the wheat, while I am the cockle. But both of us did not have the visible signs of the true Church.
5. Aiming the visible signs at my bishop and his diocese.
After mastering these signs I added more to my scarce knowledge by studying the writings of the Fathers and Doctors of the Church. I, then pointed my attention to my bishops and the diocese, I used the four visible signs from the Creed and the 15 Marks according to St. Robert Bellarmine whose ‘De controversiis’ discussing the expanded visible marks of the Church had just been translated into English.
Not that they did not show the visible signs of the true Church…. but I could not find any of the visible signs of the Catholic Church in the diocese and in the three bishops. It could be because both my readings and application were defective. But remember that these signs should be visible for all men to see. And they should be visible in those who are truly Catholic. Distraught that I could not find any sign in my Diocese……
I applied the visible signs again to other bishops of other dioceses here in my country. Now, a handful of bishops seems to have a few of the signs…. not all; but their diocese did not have any of the visible signs of Catholicity. This means that the signs were not sipping down from the bishop to the laymen. Though it can sip down later on. It is beginning to appear that, though a handful of bishops had a few of the visible signs of Catholicity, their dioceses did not show any sign.
It is possible for a layman to have the signs while his own diocese and bishop do not have the visible signs of Catholicity. By applying these visible norms to other bishops and dioceses showed St. Bellarmine’s Marks and my application is working because the difference between true Catholics and fakes are appearing.
6. Aiming the visible signs at bishops and dioceses abroad.
Since the four visible signs of the true Church and St. Bellarmine’s 15 Marks of the true Church are visible marks of the true Church and can be applied by all men to all men, then, I must be able to apply them to bishops and dioceses abroad.
I am in contact with the local bishops, but I am not in contact with the bishops abroad. But I can get information about them through books, writings, news and videos about them. The next likely target is the Bishop’s Synod.
It was immediately evident I could not find any of the signs of true Catholicity among a few German and Swiss bishops, though they could have had of which I was not conscious. While some of the Polish and African bishops had visible signs, at least, a few of the visible signs of the true Church. (When a person have a few of the visible signs, the probability is great that he has or will eventually have the rest of the visible signs. The signs appear accordingly as the community grows in Catholic Spirituality. The more spiritual, the more signs appear.
While many African bishops show that they are truly Catholic through the visible signs of Catholicity, however, the videos of the papal visit to Africa showed visible signs that the Diocese were not quite Catholic. Which means, again, that the Catholicity of the Bishops are not sipping down to the Faithful. While the signs visible among the Bishops of Poland seems to be sipping down to the faithful.
7. Aiming the visible signs at Pope Francis.
Using the treatise of St. Robert Bellarmine ‘On the Notes of the true Church’ and applying on me and those around me was fun. I could clearly see through the visible signs who were Catholic and who were not. The 15 visible signs of St. Bellarmine, which is the expanded version of the four visible signs of the Nicene Creed, was so clear there was no danger of making a mistake in judgment who was Catholic and who was not. Of paramount importance now for all Catholics is; ‘is the Pope Catholic.’
8. Aiming at the Pope.
Then there was the controversy about the validity of the papacy of Pope Francis. Many arguments were used that could not resolve the issue. It was clear that if we use the official norm by which the Catholic Church can be recognize, it would be very easy to settle the issue. It is so simple. If Pope Francis did not have the four or 15 marks of the Church, then he is not a Catholic. In which case he cannot be Pope because he is not even a Catholic.
I first applied, both the four and 15 visible signs to Pope John Paul ll, using his encyclical ‘Veritatis Splendor.’ That encyclical alone shows Pope John Paul II having the most important visible signs. It did not show all the signs but as we mentioned all the signs appearing together is rare to see because of lack of information. Then I applied the visible signs to Pope Benedict XVI.
Since Pope Benedict has more writings it was easier to find all the signs present in him. Specifically sign no. 12 in St. Bellarmine, which is rare even among the many of those who have most of the signs, was present in Benedict. This can be seen in his treatise ‘Theology of history of Philosophy according to St.Bonaventure.’
The successful applications on Pope John Paul II and Benedict prompted us to apply the test to Pope Francis. Confident in knowing that he is a Jesuit and might have known the treatise of St. Robert Bellarmine who was also a Jesuit, he should have checked himself if he was a Catholic.
9. My heart sunk.
To resolve the ongoing discussion on the papacy of Pope Francis, I applied both the four visible signs from the Nicene Creed and the 15 Marks of St. Robert Bellarmine on Pope Francis to find out if he is Catholic or not. I repeat, there is no other way of finding out if a person or a church is Catholic except this way.
Again, I am not saying that Pope Francis does not have any of the visible signs of Catholicity; neither the four nor the 15 signs. What I am saying is that I could not find any of those signs; either the four nor the 15. Instead, what I found were the signs of protestantiam which St. Robert Bellarmine described as the opposites of the 15 Marks of the true Church.
Probably I am working on this post too late at night and I could be mentally tired in analyzying. So my plea is this: can one of Pope’s colleague, any Jesuit, pick up this treatise of St. Robert Bellarmine, their colleague, and show that Pope Francis, another colleage, has the 15 visible signs that he is a Catholic. I have tried and found none of the signs in him nor in the Vatican.
10. Conclusion
Now, I have a stock pile of research information on the visible signs of the true Church as found in the Nicene Creed. These are the findings: that I and my confreres in the religious monastic community do not have the four visible signs of the Catholic Church. That I cannot find any of these signs in my three bishops and the entire diocese. That I cannot find, also, any of the visible signs amongst the parishes though a few priests show a few signs, which is a sign of hope for the parish. That I can find a few visible signs in a few other bishops, but they are ruling diocese that have absolutely no visible sign of Catholicity. In short, like Ireland, the Philippines, formerly the only Catholic nation in the Far East, does not have a single visible signs that it is the true Church of Christ. .
Further study shows that many bishops and their entire dioceses abroad, like in the US and Europe, do not have the visible signs of Catholicity; though a few bishops have a few signs, which is good enough, but we cannot find any sign in the dioceses.
That many of the African Bishops have visible signs of Catholicity but their parishes and dioceses do not show the same signs as was evident in their protestantized liturgy. And lastly, that I cannot find a single visible sign of Catholicity mentioned in the Nicene Creed and by St. Robert Bellamine in Pope Francis and in the Vatican.
I do not know what to do with all these information. This study is the worse study I ever did. It has given me nightmares. Shouldn’t everybody make the same study in their own locality basing their study both on the four visible signs as found the Nicene Creed; and basing the study also on the 15 Marks of the Church by St. Robert Bellarmine (which had been timely translated into English for our own convenience)? And see if you get the same results.