Highly Unlikely, But Possible Situation

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Kamalayka

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What would happen if either the current (or a future) Pope were to convert to the Orthodox Church?

Would he resign first?
 
He would remain the Bishop of Rome and thus Pope. He might resign but would possibly try to change certain aspects of the Church. I don’t think he would do much though because the Orthodox Bishops, in my understanding, just rule over their own dioceses and don’t recognize the Pope as having all the priveleges that Catholics believe him to have. Thus, I think he would just lead the diocese of Rome until his death. He would probably appoint a lot of orthodox caridinals.

However, if it did happen, no harm would come to the Church because it is protected by God.
 
He would lose the Archdiocese of Rome and cease to be pope. Canon law is very clear that any bishop who is excommunicated has not righ to a see. By committing apostacy, he excommunicates himself.

The Orthodox are not excommunicated, becaues they were born into the Orthodox faith and we’re not excommunicated, because we were born into the Catholic faith. But when either one crosses over, there is an automatic excommunication by the side that the person is leaving.

Fraternally,

Br. JR, OSF 🙂
 
Kamalayka said:
What would happen if either the current (or a future) Pope were to convert to the Orthodox Church?

Would he resign first?
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That would never happen. The Roman Pontiff is the successor of St. Peter. Our Lord told St. Peter that he was the Rock. The Orthodox Church and the Eastern Rite Churches are similar in their Liturgies than the Latin Rite and the Eastern Rite. When the Orthodox Churches, in time unites with Rome, in my own opinion they will be “In Communion” with Rome.
 
Malkin71 said:
That would never happen. The Roman Pontiff is the successor of St. Peter. Our Lord told St. Peter that he was the Rock. The Orthodox Church and the Eastern Rite Churches are similar in their Liturgies than the Latin Rite and the Eastern Rite. When the Orthodox Churches, in time unites with Rome, in my own opinion they will be “In Communion” with Rome.
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The Orthodox Churches are in Communion with the Catholic Church on many things and were aere in communion with them on many things. There is no excommunication between us anymore.

There is another interesting and legal possibility. We can have an Eastern Rite Patriarch elected Pope. We have not had one in over a 1,000 years, but we can. That would be interesting for most American and South American Catholics who have had very little contact with Patriarchs.

Fraternally,

Br. JR, OSF
 
Malkin71 said:
That would never happen. The Roman Pontiff is the successor of St. Peter. Our Lord told St. Peter that he was the Rock. The Orthodox Church and the Eastern Rite Churches are similar in their Liturgies than the Latin Rite and the Eastern Rite. When the Orthodox Churches, in time unites with Rome, in my own opinion they will be “In Communion” with Rome.
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“The Church Fathers’ Interpretation of the Rock of Matthew 16:18 - An Historical Refutation of the Claims of Roman Catholicism”

christiantruth.com/mt16.html
 
I’ll take a different approach to my answer. I’ll say that it can’t happen because God would never permit it.

While we all pray for the eventual reunion of our Orthodox brothers and sisters, and while there is much that unites us, there are still matters of faith that separate us. If the Pope were to convert to the Orthodox Church he would in effect be “teaching” that the faith of the Catholic Church is wrong and the faith of the Orthodox Church is correct. However since Papal Infallibility prevents the Holy Father from teaching in error in faith or morals, the Holy Spirit would never allow this to happen.

P.S. - A Eastern Patriarch would be so cool, however it would take us months to explain to most American’s “Yes, he is Catholic, Yes, he is a real Pope, Yes he is our Pope”.

P.P.S. to the OP - You started the thread on the question of the Pope converting. If you want to discuss the evidence for Peter being the first Pope then may I respectfully suggest (1) Starting a new thread or better (2) using the search function to see the 100’s of threads where this has been explained.
 
TheDoctor said:
I’ll take a different approach to my answer. I’ll say that it can’t happen because God would never permit it.

While we all pray for the eventual reunion of our Orthodox brothers and sisters, and while there is much that unites us, there are still matters of faith that separate us. If the Pope were to convert to the Orthodox Church he would in effect be “teaching” that the faith of the Catholic Church is wrong and the faith of the Orthodox Church is correct. However since Papal Infallibility prevents the Holy Father from teaching in error in faith or morals, the Holy Spirit would never allow this to happen.
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Assuming the Papacy is truly from GOD (and not from forged documents and misquotes…)

Why didn’t the Holy Spirit prevent the Inquisition?

There have been popes who have resigned in the past. There was even a pope who sold the papacy…THREE times!

A modern pope converting is nowhere near as bad as those crimes.

The Popes of the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria have never contardicted themselves.
It ain’t that hard to be “infallible” if you have the best theologians money can buy… :rolleyes:
 
Kamalayka said:
Assuming the Papacy is truly from GOD (and not from forged documents and misquotes…)

Why didn’t the Holy Spirit prevent the Inquisition?

There have been popes who have resigned in the past. There was even a pope who sold the papacy…THREE times!

A modern pope converting is nowhere near as bad as those crimes.

The Popes of the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria have never contardicted themselves.
It ain’t that hard to be “infallible” if you have the best theologians money can buy… :rolleyes:
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Dear friend, you need to learn what “Papal Infallability” means and then you can come back and re-post. It is obvioius from your post that you do not.

Here is one to get you started on infallability: catholic.com/library/Papal_Infallibility.asp

and these two will help you understand how we know the Papacy is from God through Peter to Benedict XVI:
catholic.com/library/Origins_of_Peter_as_Pope.asp
catholic.com/library/Peter_the_Rock.asp

Also don’t be afraid to dive into the forum search function as your misconceptions have been dealt with previously.

Lastly, as I said above, you really should not start a thread on one subject and then try to hijack it to another. It appears you have several misconceptions and prejudgements on the Papacy. Once you have educated yourself on these from the Catholic understanding, please come back and start a new thread(s) with specific questions or objections.
 
I have read the catechism and papal documents before, so I know perfetly well what the Catholic Church teaches itself.

For a pope to be “infallible,” he has to be “sitting on the chair of St. Peter,” speaking to the entire church, concerning matters of faith and morality.

And if a past pope (Pope Honorius) has contradicted the church, you can just conveniently say that he was not fulfilling these three requirements.
 
JReducation said:
The Orthodox Churches are in Communion with the Catholic Church on many things and were aere in communion with them on many things. There is no excommunication between us anymore.

There is another interesting and legal possibility. We can have an Eastern Rite Patriarch elected Pope. We have not had one in over a 1,000 years, but we can. That would be interesting for most American and South American Catholics who have had very little contact with Patriarchs.

Fraternally,

Br. JR, OSF
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I agree. I wish that both sides can iron out the irreglarities so that East and West can fully be in Communion and we wil be one. I am all in favor of a Eastern Rite Patriarich. The majority in the Latin Rite do not have a understanding and are not educated about the beauty of the Eastern Rite and the Eastern Orothodox of it history, and culture.
 
Kamalayka said:
I have read the catechism and papal documents before, so I know perfetly well what the Catholic Church teaches itself.

For a pope to be “infallible,” he has to be “sitting on the chair of St. Peter,” speaking to the entire church, concerning matters of faith and morality.

And if a past pope (Pope Honorius) has contradicted the church, you can just conveniently say that he was not fulfilling these three requirements.

www.christiantruth.com/pope.html -
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Curious, What denonmination are you? The original posting was not to trash the Roman Pontiff.

I just went to the site you have posted. It is a site that is Protestant with its slant against the Catholic Church.

I am not going to sling verses of the Bible.

Here are some links for you.

scripturecatholic.com/history.html Click on the link and see who founded your church.?

catholic.com/library/anti_catholicism.asp

catholic.com/library/noncatholic_groups.asp

I suggest you should read up on your history.
 
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