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On Papalotry
An Excerpt From The Speech "Alternative to Schism"
Given By
DR. WILLIAM MARRA, PH.D
Belief
and Obedience
My great teacher, Dietrich von
Hildebrande wrote four outstanding books on the present crisis in the Church.
Recently, his latest book, The Charitable Anathema was published. I
wish we could mail a copy to Rome. A chapter in this book contains one of the
most important lectures he ever gave to the Roman Forum. It concerns the
difference between belief and obedience.
He called it the critical difference. It was masterful.
The point is this: If there is a
problem on a question of Truth, and there's a big dispute, and finally Rome
speaks (involving its infallible authority) and says "This statement must
be believed de fide".
Then this is the end of the dispute. Roma locuta causa finita. Rome
has spoken, the case is closed. That is the end of it. Therefore, we owe assent
of belief to statements of Truth.
However, practical
decisions of Churchmen, even the highest authorities: the Pope, bishops,
priests are something quite different. We do not say, for example, that a
command of a Pope to call a council is true or not. We can say that it
is wise or not.
... it is opportune or
not. Such a decision in no way asks us to assent to its truth. It asks us to
obey the command or commands that pertain to us. This is what von Hildebrande
meant by difference between belief and obedience.
And Catholics are never obliged to believe that a given command, or a
given decision of anyone, including the Pope, is necessarily that of the Holy
Ghost.
The
Limits of Divine Protection
There is a kind of papalotry
going around. It acts as if no matter what comes out of Rome, it must have been
inspired by the Holy Ghost. This line of thinking holds, for example, that if
Vatican II was called, it means that the Holy Ghost wanted to call it. But this
is not necessarily the case. Convoking Vatican II was a personal decision
of John XXIII. He may have thought god was telling him to call it, but who
knows? He has no special charism that guarantees he would recognize such a
decision as coming from the Holy Ghost with theological certitude.
We can say that the Pope has the power
to call a council. We can say that the authorities in the Church can call upon
the Holy Ghost to guarantee, in a very narrow set of cases, that what comes
from this council is de fide (And nothing in Vatican II was pronounced
de fide, Ed.)
The glory of the Church is that
it has supernatural help to define Truth. It has supernatural help to guarantee
that its sacraments are efficacious and so on. But who said that the decision
to call the council was protected by the Holy Ghost?
Some
Clarifications
Let's look at certain practical
decisions of any Pope.
A Pope could command the
suppression of a religious order. That happened a few centuries ago, the Pope
suppressed the Jesuits. He was a little premature, I think they should have
waited. This type of suppression concerns obedience, not belief
For all practical purposes, Paul
VI suppressed the Roman rite. We have no Roman rite. Pope Paul VI thought he
had the liturgical power to do this. Von Hildebrande called it the greatest
blunder of Paul VI's Pontificate. So to suppress a religious order, to
suppress a rite, to name a bishop is a matter of obedience, not belief, and is
not protected by the Holy Ghost.
We have 2,600 bishops in the
Church. Does that mean the Holy Ghost picked all of those? That is blasphemy,
friends. Do you want to blame the Holy Ghost for Archbishop Weakland?
As already mentioned, to call a
council is a practical decision of a Pope. A person may piously believe that
God inspired it. But no one can say that this is an object of Faith.
Also, we must not believe that whoever
becomes Pope is the man God wants to be Pope. This is a play on words
that "this is the will of God."
Every theologian has always
understood there are two senses to the will of God. The positive will
of God and the permissive will of God.
Now, we know that God positively
wants holy people in the Church... "this is the will of God, your
sanctification". But when evil is done, this is through the permissive
will of God. It is not something that God directly wills, but something He
permits when men exercise their free will.
Before any conclave which elects
a Pope, the electors are supposed to pray for guidance by the Holy Ghost. Now,
if they are truly men of God, and they really pray, it is to be expected that
the Holy Ghost will give them the right choice. But if they're willful,
ambitious, carnal men, and they are not truly opening themselves to
inspiration, an unworthy candidate of their own choosing may be the result.
That doesn't mean that the man elected ceases to be Pope. That doesn't mean
that he loses the protection of the Holy Spirit when he teaches faith and
morals. But it could be that this Pope will end up in disaster.
Now how do I know this? Well, not
because I know that any of the modern Popes have been a disaster, this is all
too controversial. But in Church history, there are many instances of
disastrous Pontificates.
We
Learn From History
Dr. John Rao is a good friend of
mine. He is a professor of Church History. He is very unhappy with the
so-called conservative people who, when they do their doctor's degree in
history, they will document all of the disastrous decisions of the past popes.
They will write about all the disastrous things that happened. But when it
comes to the present situation, they're mum. They believe that everything must
be right and perfect in the present Pontificates, then why do they write their
doctrinal dissertation on the disasters of Pope Honorius, Pope Liberius, Pope
Alexander VI or anyone else?
So, Rao insists that we learn
from history, and that in no way we can say " 'X' was elected Pope
therefore that is the will of God". No, it may be either the positive
will of God or merely the permissive will of God. But it could be that
the man selected to be Pope may be the worst candidate for the office.
It is as if God says, "You
carnal electors and you carnal people in the Church who did not pray enough
will get what you deserve." The Papacy is still protected, and will never
teach with its infallible authority something as true that is false, but
everything else is up for grabs. The given Pope might do every type of
abomination ... his personal life might be self-willed, and so on. It could be
that he is a horrible person.
He can also be a disaster for the
Faith even if he is a good person.
The Papacy is not protected from
such a calamity. And this is a point on which we ought to have a real dialogue
with the so-called "conservatives."
Credits Copied from: On
Papalotry by Doctor William Marra, Ph.D. Catholic Family News
December, 1996 edition. We encourage our readers to subscribe to Catholic
Family News at: M.P.O. Box 743, Niagara Falls, NY 14302, Telephone (905)
871-6292: One year subscription (12 issues) for $20.00 (US),
NOTE: This is based on a
portion of the speech "Alternative to Schism" given at the
Roman Forum Conference in August, 1995. In this presentation, Dr. Marra
presents a clarification that will help Catholics to think critically and
correctly, when confusing and contradictory statements emanate from even the
highest authorities of the Church.
De Fide: A term meaning
"of the Faith," used to identify those doctrines of the Church which
have been defined as infallibly true. Such statements are called
"dogmas." To reject a de fide statement, whether directly or
indirectly, is to fall into the sin of heresy.