Canon law and the removal of a Pope

[Wandile]

Yes that means unblemished by error in that the see of Peter will never officially dogmatise an error.

However that does not mean individual popes cannot teach errors in their own personal capacity (personal opinion).

In the same Vatican I council, on investigating the infallibility of the pope, the committee charged with doing this found some 14 popes alone in the prior 5 hundred years who taught doctrinal errors of some sort.

This is the reason why Vatican I limits the popes infalibility to a rare and specific circumstance. That is, when he dogmatises a teaching on faith and morals. Everything else (homilies, interviews, suggestions and encyclicals, papal exhortations, private letters) is fallible (can contain error)

 

[pnewton]

I am approaching this question from a purely conceptual standpoint. The discussion does not in of itself speak to any specific Pope now or in the future so please do not treat this as being disrespectful to the Papal Office.

I like this approach. I have just read this thread and found it to have taken a sad departure from this as a topic. I especially appreciate the article from Ed Peters. However one thing I gleaned from this is that in such a case we would clearly be in uncharted waters, as least as far as doctrine is concerned. There is no “Catholic answer” to this question. Perhaps one day some Pope will address this hypothetical issue. Until then, for me, I will stand by the adage that sufficient to the day is the evil thereof.