Can a Pope be a heretic?

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Please answer simply yes or no to:

Can a Pope be a heretic?

Only type more if absolutely necessary to clarify your “yes” or “no”

Thanks!
 
If a Pope were a heretic, no heretical doctrines would be enunciated during his pontificate. The protection of God the Holy Spirit guarantees that.

Still, the leadership might be a wee bit wobbly.

Blessings,

Gerry
 
Seeing how easy it is to be called a heretic the answer would have to be yes. Some saints were once considered heretics.
 
A pope can privately hold heretical opinions, and even teach them, but not bind the church to them. This has happened in the past, with Pope John XXII.
 
Well it’s a good thing that you all see it that way, or you’d have to explain how pope Honorious was declared a heretic by the Sixth Ecumenical Council.
 
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Juxtaposer:
Well it’s a good thing that you all see it that way, or you’d have to explain how pope Honorious was declared a heretic by the Sixth Ecumenical Council.
Honorius was condemned in the sixth General Council in 680 not because he actually taught heresy, but because he was negligent and did not do his duty to stop the spread of the Monothelite heresy. This does not disprove papal infallibility, because Honorius did not teach it as infallible truth or dogma nor did he bind the Church to this teaching. Infallibility logically implies that you actually teach it and bind the Church to it.

Gerry 🙂
 
An individual pope’s heretical ideas (and there have been a few of these “Heretic Popes”) have NEVER ever been promulgated and Dogma. I think that right there PROVES papal infalliability.

In Him, through her,
Pio Magnus
 
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PioMagnus:
An individual pope’s heretical ideas (and there have been a few of these “Heretic Popes”) have NEVER ever been promulgated and Dogma. I think that right there PROVES papal infalliability.

In Him, through her,
Pio Magnus
Your logic is intermittent.
 
the two are mutually exclusive. If a pope is a heretic or becomes one, he ceases to be Pope. If I am not mistaken there was a papal proclamation to that effect.
 
Likewise Pope Pius IX once said to the effect that if any future Pope should actually change/contradict Church teaching, do not follow him.

Gerry
 
But would it be actually *possible *for a Pope to do that in an official position as Pope? Since the Holy Sprit protects the Pope and the Magisterium, the theory would hold that any officialteaching of heresy would never happen. Any Catholic who would hold the opposite position strays dangerously close to that S-word…

Anyway, where does Piux IX state that?

In Christ,

The Augustinian
 
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Juxtaposer:
Well it’s a good thing that you all see it that way, or you’d have to explain how pope Honorious was declared a heretic by the Sixth Ecumenical Council.
The case of Pope Honorius I is not as simple as it seems to those who argue against papl infallibility on matters of faith and morals. Honorius was pope from 625 to 638 A.D. During his pontificate, the patriarch of Constantinople, Sergius, fell prey to the Monothelite heresy, the belief that in Christ there is only one will. Sergius wrote a letter to Honorius, asking whether Christ had one “operation” or two. Sergius used obscure and confusing language. Honorius reponded by condemning both expressions, one operation or two operations. The problem with the blanket condemnation is that the expression, two operations, can be interpreted as orthodox. John Symponus, the man who composed Honorius’s letter, said that Honorius only meant to condemn the idea that Christ had two contrary wills. Nevertheless, Honorius’s confusing letter was used by many to buttress the heretical Monothelite position. The Sixth Council–at Constantinople–condemned the Monothelite heresy, along with those who held it. Honorius was one of those declared anathema, but this was without the approval of Pope Agatho. Agatho’s successor, Pope Leo II, confirmed the council’s decree but clarified its language regarding Pope Honorius, making it clear that Honorius had not endorsed the Monothelitism of Sergius, but had failed in his duty to condemn it. Officially, Honorius was condemned for his negligence, not for heresy. It should be noted that the council took place more than 40 years after the death of Honorius.
 
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larryo:
Officially, Honorius was condemned for his negligence, not for heresy.
Pope Honorius was in point of fact condemned as a heretic. There is an identical discussion underway on this on another thread

Pope Excommunicated?
forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?p=183590#post183590
It should be noted that the council took place more than 40 years after the death of Honorius.
When the Church declares someone to be anathema after their death, this tells us that the person in question never renounced their heresy, never repented of it, and therefore died in a state of separation from God, as an apostate, outside of the Church and her graces.

Such was the unfortunate Pope Honorius. Whatever words were said at his grave, the Church subsequently and with one voice infallibly declared him anathema, separated from God–a sentence which the entire Episcopate at an Ecumenical Council (ratified as infallible by the Pope), the entire Priesthood, and all the faithful, affirmed, do affirm, and must affirm.
 
Fr Ambrose:
Pope Honorius was in point of fact condemned as a heretic. There is an identical discussion underway on this on another thread

Pope Excommunicated?
forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?p=183590#post183590

When the Church declares someone to be anathema after their death, this tells us that the person in question never renounced their heresy, never repented of it, and therefore died in a state of separation from God, as an apostate, outside of the Church and her graces.

Such was the unfortunate Pope Honorius. Whatever words were said at his grave, the Church subsequently and with one voice infallibly declared him anathema, separated from God–a sentence which the entire Episcopate at an Ecumenical Council (ratified as infallible by the Pope), the entire Priesthood, and all the faithful, affirmed, do affirm, and must affirm.
But if he never formally said he believed it then there would be no reason to repent for a heresy.
 
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larryo:
THonorius was one of those declared anathema, but this was without the approval of Pope Agatho. Agatho’s successor, Pope Leo II, confirmed the council’s decree but clarified its language regarding Pope Honorius, making it clear that Honorius had not endorsed the Monothelitism of Sergius, but had failed in his duty to condemn it. Officially, Honorius was condemned for his negligence, not for heresy.
Where could I find more information on these two things?
 
For the formal definitions of “heresy”, “apostasy”, and “schism” please refer to Canon 751.

By my reading, a pope, in theory, could be guilty of all three - although the final one, obviously, is a bit tricky (the first of the conditions could not be true, but the second could)…
 
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Juxtaposer:
Where could I find more information on these two things?
You can start with the book, *Pope Fiction, *by Patrick Madrid. Also, you can read the articles in the Catholic Encyclopedia on Popes Honorius I, Agatho, and Leo II. There’s also an article on the 6th Council at Constantinople. The Encyclopedia can be found at www.newadvent.org.
 
How about this? Can an anti-Pope be a saint?

In the year 217, Hippolytus revolted and set himself up as anti-pope.

See cin.org/saints/pontian-hippolytus.html

In 235 the Emperor Maximinus revived the persecution of Christians. Pope Pontian and the anti-pope Hippolytus were banished to the Sardinian mines. Hippolytus surrendered his papal claim and invited his followers to submit to the legitimate pontiff. His death was a martyrdom. St. Hippolytus’s feast day is August 22nd.

So if you have left the Church, come back.
 
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