Pope Francis as Public Heretic: The Evidence Leaves No Doubt — by Dr. John Lamont

Editorial Note: Rorate Caeli’s position is that Francis is the pope and that sedevacantism or any of its variants is mistaken. For the sake of enriching the public debate, we publish this study by frequent contributor Dr John Lamont concerning heresies in documents signed by Pope Francis (PDF here for those who prefer that format; the link is now correct). While Dr. Lamont agrees that Francis is the pope, he considers that the questions that the pope's heretical statements raise need to be addressed in order to prepare theologians and prelates for what is to come.

Pope Francis as Public Heretic: The Evidence Leaves No Doubt

Dr. John Lamont

Pope Francis has recently published answers to two sets of dubia submitted to him by members of the College of Cardinals: one set submitted by Cardinals Brandmüller, Burke, Sandoval, Sarah, and Zen on July 10, 2023, and the other set submitted by Cardinal Dominik Duka on July 13, 2023. Pope Francis responded to the dubia of the five cardinals on July 11 and made this reponse public on October 2. On September 25, 2023, the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith responded to dubia proposed by Cardinal Dominik Duka; the response was endorsed by the Pope. On November 1, 2023, Pope Francis issued, motu proprio, the apostolic letter Ad Theologiam Promovendam to accompany revised statutes for the Pontifical Academy of Theology. His answers to these dubia and his apostolic letter openly and unmistakably contradict the Catholic faith (see Annexe II for the texts in question).

Announcing the Publication of Defending the Faith Against Present Heresies

Paperback on the left, hardcover with dustjacket on the right

Arouca Press, rapidly establishing itself as the most interesting and valuable Catholic publisher in Canada, is much to be commended for its latest release, a 450-page volume entitled Defending the Faith Against Present Heresies: Letters and Statements Addressed to Pope Francis, the Cardinals, and the Bishops, with a Collection of Related Articles and Interviews.

De Mattei: Rereading Humanae Vitae in the light of Casti connubii

Roberto  de Mattei

Corrispondenza Romana

 July 5, 2018

Over the last few decades the West has experienced an “anti-family” Revolution without precedent in history. One of the tenets of this process in the disintegration of the institution of the family was the separation of the two primary purposes of marriage, the procreative and the unitive. The procreative purpose, separated from conjugal union, has brought about in-vitro fertilization and the surrogate womb. The unitive purpose, emancipated from procreation, has lead to the glorification of free love, both heterosexual and homosexual.  One of the results of these aberrations is the recourse of homosexual couples to the practice of the surrogate womb in order to actualize a grotesque caricature of the natural family. 

A Case Study of Rupture in the Lex Orandi: The Epistles of Lenten Sundays

One of the most striking areas of rupture and discontinuity between the traditional Latin Mass and the Mass of Paul VI is to be found in the passages of Scripture read on Sundays. The annual cycle of the old Missal, embodying the practice of well over a millennium, puts before the Christian people year after year essential truths of the spiritual life and fundamentals of morality to which we must always return. The three-year cycle of the new Mass, an unprecedented novelty against the backdrop of all historic liturgical rites, brings in a greater quantity and variety of texts but, as a result, diffuses the impact and substance of the message.

It is as if the canvas on which the painting is being executed is so large and the subjects so numerous that one cannot quite make out what the painting is of. There is not enough “useful repetition” to allow the words to sink in deeply and remain in the heart, rather than passing in one ear and out the other. As a friend of mine likes to say, education involves cutting the groove many times until a lasting mark is left. The enormous contrast between the two is appreciated perhaps only by those who have regularly attended both forms of the Roman Rite over a long stretch of time.

Important Guest Essay: "The Meaning of Amoris Laetitia According to Pope Francis." - by Dr John Lamont

The meaning of Amoris laetitia according to Pope Francis

John R. T. Lamont

            The teaching of the apostolic exhortation Amoris laetitia has been the subject of a great deal of debate since the promulgation of that document. Various interpretations of this teaching have been presented, and the differing interpretations have been used both to denounce the document as heretical and to defend it as in harmony with the teaching of the Church. Pope Francis has recently acted to clarify the meaning of the most contentious section of Amoris laetitia through a statement in the October 2017 issue of the Acta apostolic sedis, the journal that publishes the official acts of the Holy See (the title of the journal is generally abbreviated as AAS). The meaning and consequences of this clarification are of the first importance, and need to be carefully and accurately examined.

The meaning and authority of the AAS statement

            The statement in the AAS has three components: i) a letter from Pope Francis to the bishops of the Buenos Aires region concerning their pastoral degree on the application of Chapter 8 of Amoris laetitia, ii) the pastoral decree itself, and iii) a statement by Cardinal Parolin, the Secretary of State, asserting that the Supreme Pontiff has ordered the publication of the two preceding components in the AAS as statements of the authentic magisterium. The letter from Pope Francis is given the title of ‘Apostolic letter’ in the AAS statement, a title it did not bear when originally issued.

            The statement in the AAS has a high degree of authority. The term ‘authentic magisterium’ is explained in para. 25 of the dogmatic constitution Lumen gentium, and in canon 752 of the Latin Code of Canon Law. The exercise of the authentic magisterium is not infallible, and hence does not require the assent of faith from Catholics, but it does require the religious submission of mind and will, a submission that includes sincere adherence to the assertions being taught. The covering statement by Cardinal Parolin, the publication of the above documents in the AAS at the command of the Pope, and the new title of ‘Apostolic letter’ given to Pope Francis’s original letter to the Buenos Aires bishops, confirm that the relevant contents of the documents are teachings of the authentic magisterium of the Catholic Church. This is a rather roundabout way of conveying an official teaching of the Church, since  this teaching is given in a letter about a letter about an apostolic exhortation, but this form of expression is not entirely without precedent or unsuitable in itself. There are precedents for a Pope issuing a teaching by endorsing a statement previously made by bishops. It does however mean that the statement needs to be carefully analyzed in order to identify the content of the teaching it conveys.

De Mattei: Cardinals Burke, Brandmüller and Müller and The Dictator Pope

Roberto de Mattei
Corrispondenza Romana
November 29, 2017

Over the last few weeks three interviews from  prominent cardinals have appeared.  The first was released by Cardinal Walter Brandmüller  to Christian Geye and Hannes Hintermeier for the Frankfurter Allgmeine Zeitung on October 28^th 2017; the second was given by Cardinal Raymond Leo Burke to Edward Pentin on November 14^th  for The National Catholic Register; the third, to Cardinal Müller, appeared on November 26^th in the Corriere della Sera, by Massimo Franco.

De Mattei: Friendly Criticism of Rocco Buttiglione’s Theses

Roberto de Mattei

Corrispondenza Romana

November 15, 2017

I have known Rocco Buttiglione for more than forty years. Both of us were assistants to Professor Augusto Del Noce (1910-1989) at the Faculty of Political Science at La Sapienza University in Rome, but since then our positions have diverged, mainly regarding our judgment on modernity. Buttiglione believed that the historical process inaugurated by the French Revolution was compatible  with Christianity, but I believed it incompatible.  Despite these differences, I appreciated Buttiglione’s work as Minster of National Cultural Heritage in Berlusconi’s government (2005-2006) and expressed my solidarity with him in 2004 when he didn’t attain the nomination as European Commissioner as a result of having called homosexuality “a sin”.  I refer to all this in order to show my sincerity in my “friendly criticism” of his theses, just as Buttiglione is truly sincere when he argues with Professor Seifert, his “life-long friend” in his most recent book (Friendly Responses to the Critics of Amoris Laetitia, which included an essay introduction by Cardinal Gerard Ludwig Müller, Ares, Milan 2017, p. 41).

De Mattei - Increasing confusion: Cardinal Müller and Professor Buttiglione

Roberto de Mattei

Corrispondenza Romana

November 2, 2017

Professor Rocco Buttiglione has been fighting for months against the critics of Amoris Laetitia in an attempt to justify the contents of Pope Francis’ Post-Synod Exhortation. Now he has gathered his articles in a book entitled: Friendly Answers to the Critics of Amoris laetitia, published by Ares, with a preface unexpectedly written by Cardinal Gerhard Ludwig Müller.  

Andrea Tornielli reports in Vaticaninsider a large extract of this introduction which adds to the present reigning confusion. The former Prefect of the Congregation for the Faith, unlike Prof. Buttiglione, has always manifested a certain sympathy for the four “dubia” cardinals, but retains that to “neutralize” Amoris laetitia it would be better to interpret it in continuity with the teaching of the Church, rather than criticize it openly.

To explain the apparent contradiction between Amoris laetitia and the definite dogma of the Church on the Sacraments of Matrimony, Penance and the Eucharist, the Cardinal makes Rocco Buttiglione’s thesis the basis of his own, which is summed up in these two lines: “That which is in question is an objective situation of sin, which, because of attenuating circumstances, is not imputed subjectively”.

USCCB official challenges Francis, fired immediately -- U.S. bishops prove his point

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) is a house more divided than one could possibly imagine. The pro-life office on the second floor may as well be in the catacombs. Employees from throughout the USCCB proudly display their Obama for President and other pro-abortion politician bumper stickers in the parking lot. The international justice and peace branch sets the tone for the building, aligned with the far-left wing of the Church. This month's big issue is the annual collection for the Campaign for Human Development.

Although some offices within the USCCB have miraculously been staffed in recent years with right-leaning clergy and laymen (the USCCB's government relations director position is currently open to applicants...) leadership will always side with the center-left in the organization.

Father Thomas G. Weinandy, O.F.M. Cap., was the executive director of the USCCB's Committee on Doctrine from 2005 until 2013. Since then, the theologian has been a consultant to that office. Awarded the Pro Pontifice et Ecclesiae medal by Pope Benedict XVI, and appointed a member of the Vatican's International Theological Commission, Father Weinandy is arguably one of the most respected theologians in the United States.

But he dared to challenge Pope Francis, resulting in his forced resignation from the USCCB the same day his concerns were made public.

Correctio: a challenge for Fastiggi and Goldstein

You know you've had an influence when the Vatican Insider addresses you by name.

Correctio Filialis: a first appraisal

Roberto de Mattei

Corrispondenza Romana 

October 4, 2017

On September 25th, the day after the publication of the Correctio filialis to Pope Francis, Greg Burke, the spokesman for the Vatican Pressroom, with condescending irony, denied the news diffused by Ansa, which had reported that access to the site of the Correctio had been blocked by the Holy See: “Do you really think we would do this for a letter with 60 names?” The director of the Pressroom, who judges initiatives on the basis of the number of “followers” , might be interested to know that www.correctiofilialis.org, eight days after being put online, had more than 180 thousand individual visitors and 330 thousand page visits. 

Is Amoris Laetitia really Thomistic and against “decadent scholasticism”? Let’s hear what the Angelic Doctor says

Luisella Scrosati

La Nuova Bussola Quotidiano

April 11, 2016

After the publication of the Apostolic Exhortation Familiaris Consortio (1981), as likewise the Letter to the Bishops of the Catholic Church on the Reception of Eucharistic Communion by the Divorced-Remarried of 1994, an appeal has been made to the principle of epikeia, in order to “bypass” the prohibition present in these documents, regarding the admission of the divorced and remarried to the Sacraments, basing it on the fact that particular cases cannot simply be deduced by universal laws.

According to its contesters, the positions expressed in such documents – as those likewise clearly taught in Veritatis Splendor – would represent a very legalistic vision of the Christian life, which would neither take into account the complexity of situations nor mercy. Similar observations we have heard a number of times in the words of Cardinal Kasper, who appealed for a broader vision, more attentive to people’s concrete life situation, more merciful.  In that context the German Cardinal indicated the road to follow was the principle of epikeia. These are attractive considerations, as each of us would like to share, at a deep level, a prospective which doesn’t create man for the law, but the law for man. At the same time however, we need to leave the dynamic of slogans and actually see how things stand.   

Note: more on Josef Seifert's "retirement" for Amoris Laetitia critiques.

A few days ago, as reported by various Catholic websites such as Infovaticana, One Peter Five and LifeSite News, a notification was posted on the website of the Archdiocese of Granada denouncing Dr. Josef Seifert for his recent article "Does pure logic threaten to destroy the entire moral doctrine of the Catholic Church?". (Rorate was one of the websites that published it.) Dr. Seifert's positions are listed at the bottom of Rorate's repost:

Josef Seifert is the founding Rector of the The International Academy of Philosophy in the Principality of Liechtenstein, holder of the Dietrich von Hildebrand Chair for Realist Phenomenology at the IAP-IFES, Granada, Spain, and elected by Saint Pope John Paul II as ordinary (life-long) member of the Pontifical Academy for Life (a charge that ended with the dismissal of all PAV members by Pope Francis in 2016, and the failure to be re-elected as member of, a profoundly changed, PAV in 2017)

IAP-IFES stands for "International Academy of Philosophy -  Instituto de Filosofia Edith Stein". IFES, founded in 2005 and owned by the Archdiocese of Granada, notes on its website that it has acted as the Granada campus of IAP since 2009. In listing the IAP's faculty, the IFES website still starts, with evident pride, with Seifert: "The IAP has a permanent faculty of high quality professors, guest professors and friends who frequently teach at their campuses. Notable among them is the renowned phenomenologist Professor Josef Seifert, as well as figures such as ..."

However, the Granada Archdiocesan notification reveals that Seifert had already stopped (or, as is more likely, been stopped from) teaching in IFES since September last year, shortly after his much-longer critique of AL (Amoris Laetitia: Joy, Sadness and Hopes) was published. The same notification also speaks of Seifert's impending "retirement" from the International Academy of Philosophy because of his criticisms of AL. (It is not sufficiently clear from the actual notification if he is being retired only from IAP-IFES, or from IAP itself.)

De Mattei on the Müller Case: "The moral of this story is that those who do not fight experience defeat"

The Müller Case

Roberto de Mattei

Corrispondenza Romana

July 2, 2017

The removal of Cardinal Ludwig Müller signifies a critical moment in the history of Pope Francis’ pontificate. In fact, Müller, named Prefect of the Congregation for the Faith on July 2nd 2012 by Benedict XVI, is only 69 years old. It has never happened that a cardinal with more than 5 years to the canonical age of retirement (75) has not had his position renewed for a further five years.

BREAKING - EXCLUSIVE IN ENGLISH: Pope dismisses Cardinal Müller from CDF

Cardinal Müller has been dismissed by Pope Francis

Corrispondenza Romana & Rorate Caeli

June 30, 2017

CORRISPONDENZA ROMANA and RORATE CÆLI have just learned that His Eminence Cardinal Gerhard Ludwig Müller, Prefect of the Congregation for the Faith since July 2, 2012, has been dismissed by Pope Francis on the exact expiry date of his five-year mandate.

Cardinal Müller is one of the cardinals who sought to interpret Amoris Laetitia along the lines of a hermeneutic of continuity with Church Tradition. This was enough to put him among the critics of the new course imposed by Pope Bergoglio.

NOTE: Please, be sure to mention Rorate Caeli in all references to this exclusive breaking news.

[English text by contributor Francesca Romana]

***

UPDATE (July 1st, 12:00 pm Rome Time):

As we reported first yesterday, the Holy See confirmed moments ago that the Pope has declined to renew the term of Cardinal Müller. He has named as new Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith its former Secretary, Spanish Jesuit Luis Maria Ladaria Ferrer.

Sicilian Bishops' AL Guidelines Authorize Communion for Adulterous Couples

On June 4, the Sicilian Bishop Conference, encompassing the 18 dioceses of the island of Sicily, followed their neighboring bishops in Malta by promulgating pastoral guidelines on Chapter 8 of Amoris Laetitia that authorize Holy Communion for the divorced and civilly remarried without annulment (ie. in a state of public and permanent adultery). The Sicilian guidelines also bear resemblance in their drafting to those of the diocese of Catania. The guidelines significantly admit that Familiaris Consortio required (using the past tense) such couples to practice chastity, but that this requirement has been "expanded" (read: nullified) by Francis in Amoris Laetitia. The guidelines state: "According to the assessment of the confessor and taking into account the good of the penitent, it is possible to absolve and admit [the divorced and civilly remarried] to the Eucharist, even though the confessor knows that it is, for the Church, an objective disorder."

Cupich: In AL Francis exercises the "divinely granted Petrine power of loosening and binding"

Cardinal Cupich has written the forward to a new English translation of Cardinal Coccopalmerio's booklet "A Commentary on Chapter Eight of Amoris Laetitia", previously published here on Rorate in full in April. 

In his endorsement of Coccopalmerio's book-long defense of adultery for the divorced and civilly remarried, Cupich cites an article by Rocco Buttiglione calling Amoris Laetitia a "development of doctrine and what it means for Popes to exercise their divinely granted Petrine power of loosening and binding in different ways and in different historical circumstances." 

Cupich suggests Francis' new teaching on sex and the sacraments marks "new opportunities to retrieve certain truths that have become dormant," namely about the Church's teaching on conscience and mitigating circumstances, such that "when it comes to dealing with certain so-called irregular situations, what is required is a pastoral approach that takes into consideration both the general and the individual aspects of a person's life."

Conference on Amoris Laetitia: The Need for Consistency between Magisterium and Tradition

On April 22, 2017 at the Hotel Columbus in Rome, a block from Saint Peter’s Square, six internationally renowned lay scholars spoke at a landmark conference: "Seeking Clarity: One year after Amoris Laetitia," calling on Pope Francis to answer the dubia of the four cardinals over the passages in Amoris Laetitia that purport to justify acts of adultery, against the Sixth Commandment of the Decalogue, and to allow the reception of Holy Communion by those living in permanent and public adultery more uxorio. 

We invite you to read the important interventions from this conference in English by Dr. Anna M. Silvas, "A Year After Amoris Laetitia. A Timely Word" , and by Dr. Douglas Farrow, "The Roots of the Present Crisis" (video).

Additionally, the following is an English translation of the full intervention of Professor Claudio Pierantoni, for the benefit of Rorate's readers:

The Need for Consistency between Magisterium and Tradition: Examples from History

The Church and Asmodeus - Part 5, conclusion

By Don Pietro Leone

A spiritu fornicationis

libera nos, Domine

(invocation from the Litany of the Saints)

V

CONCLUSION

The intention in writing this essay was to investigate how the concupiscence of the flesh, or, more particularly, the spirit of fornication, or impurity, has been able to penetrate the mind of the contemporary Church. We have been at pains to trace it back, through various canons of the New Church Law and various doctrines of recent Magisterium, to the Second Vatican Council, where the spirit of Fallen Nature made its official entry into the Catholic Church.

This spirit of impurity corresponds to the World’s vision of sexuality. Quoting our earlier analysis of this vision, and alluding briefly to the period extending from the last Vatican Council to the present pontificate, we shall proceed to examine how and to what extent this spirit informs the encyclical Amoris Laetitia.

A. ‘Sexuality does not have a particular finality. Its use is pleasurable and a means for expressing love between two persons, not necessarily married to each other’

Francis' falsified footnotes: He mangles the Church Fathers, too

By this stage of Francis' pontificate, faithful Catholics have become all too familiar with the Pope's tendency to misquote and wrest the words of the Holy Gospel and of previous Magisterial documents not only in his "off the cuff" allocutions, homilies, and interviews, but even in his formal, prepared documents. It only makes sense that, as we shall see below, the Pope shows the same disrespect for the Church Fathers.

To cite one of the most egregious manglings of the Church's previous Magisterium:  While all the faithful are rightly outraged or troubled by his apostolic exhortation Amoris laetitia's infamous Footnote 351 granting permission for unrepentant adulterers to commit sacrilege at Mass, we cannot forget that the Pope in Amoris laetitia conveniently failed to quote St. John Paul's Familiaris consortio no. 84 which explicitly upholds Christ's commandment forbidding Communion for purportedly remarried adulterers, while Amoris laetitia's Footnote 329 rips the Second Vatican Council's Gaudium et spes no. 51 (concerning temporary abstinence from marital relations) completely out of context in order to argue that "doing it for the children" might mitigate the mortal sin of adultery. (We reported and commented on these things the lamentable day Amoris laetitia was issued.)