The papacy never comes into question unless you have an anti-pope, in which case there is no pope. Popes have been known to be great sinners. They’re born with Original Sin, like everyone else. However, their sins are never greater than the power of the Holy Spirit who selected them to lead the Church.
This is what Dominic and Francis brought to light. No matter what the sins of the pope or the bishop, the succession remains and our fidelity is always about both love of God and love of the pope. This has been commented in various letters, writings of doctors, popes themselves and it was once part of Canon Law. You had to love the pope. Canon Law today words it a little differently, but it boils down to the same thing. You must revere the pope, regardless of his weaknesses and you must obey.
Obedience can only be denied when you are asked to commit an explicit sin. You can’t refuse to obey because it may lead to sin or because you believe that something is a sin. That’s pure speculation on our part.
Whatever is permitted by the Church is never a sin. The Church cannot teach sin, nor can she legalize sin. She is protected by the Holy Spirit. She can do and has done some very silly things, but she has never legalized or taught sin.
The pope can certainly sin or simply make foolish choices, but he remains the Vicar of Jesus Christ, the Successor of Peter and the visible head of the Church. You cannot withdraw your allegience because of these human weaknesses. To do so, you’re withdrawing your allegience from Christ and Peter. This is Pope Benedict’s point when he refers to breaking with the Primacy. You’re not only breaking with Pope Benedict, but with the entire line all the way back to Peter. Such an act is not a wise act. Pope Benedict has always tried to explain that while the Church was not born at Vatican II, she did not cease there either. She is in constant growth and development. We know that development can be very painful. We take two steps forward and one back, which leaves us one step ahead of where we were…
We go back to our two reformers of the Middle Ages who faced a Church in worse situation than we do today. They were in the middle of the break between East and West. There was the Crusades, which had some dubioius overtones, even though Europe was in danger. Certainly there was cause for alarm and good reason to rise to the defense of Christian Europe. Popes certainly slept with very corrupt monarchs in order to maintain power. Honorius III was no innocent. He had his fair share of skeletons in the closet and some in the sitting room for everyone to see.
Francis and Dominic not only submitted to his authority, but they bound everyone of their sons and daughters and the lay faithful to whom they ministered to do the same. I believe that this is the difference between these two great reformers and the SSPX. These men did not encourage criticism, dissent, anger, hostility or defiance among the lay faithful. Whatever they did not like about the Church and hierarchy of their time, you and I will never know. They took it to their graves. That’s incredible fidelity to the pope and the bishop. I’m sure there was much that raised their eyebrows.
There are stories where Francis and Dominic refused to serve laymen who were antagonistic toward Pope Honorius. Some laymen certainly had reasons to be angry at him. As soon as they crossed the line, showed disrespect and disobeyed, they lost the support of the friars.
The result has been that these are the two largest religious families in the Church and the two families that were not decimated by the vocation crisis. Together they number over one million. There is something to be said for the wisdom of remaining faithful to the Primacy. God will be there when times get tought.
This kind of faith is true wisdom and heroic. This kind of faith understands that the Church has a human and divine nature and it’s human nature has warts; however, it must be loved as a whole. This love is expressed through love for the successor of Peter and those bishops who govern in communion with him. You do what you can do within the parameters given to you. Then you trust God to do the rest or send someone else to pick up where yo leave off.
One thing about the Franciscan and Dominican scholars and doctors was that they engaged the popes and bishops in dialogue. They offered advice. They tried their best to point out the way to go. We have Catherine of Siena, Bonaventure, Meister Eckhart, Thomas, Bartolome de Las Casas, Junipero Serra, even Clare and Colette. These people were not door knobs. They had brains. They offered those talents to the popes and bishops. What they never did was drag the laity into conflicts with the hierarchy. They never disobeyed, even when the hierarchy was very unfair to them. They never allowed anyone to badmouth the hierarchy or the popes. They never shared their opinions with the laity.
The little that we know about their dialogue and interactions with the popes and bishops was revealed to us after they were dead. Letters were revealed. Some people saw things that they remembered. They never made things public. In that sense, launching a counter reform was much easier, because you did not instigate or fuel the anger among the people. They preferred not to preach, than to engage in a public conflict.
Fraternally,
Br. JR, OSF
