I think this might need clarification. The Pope does not have an charism of infallibility when it comes to governance, as he does with morals and doctrines. He is supreme, of course, but that does not mean that his supreme decisions concerning governance are infallible. In other words, I believe a faithful Catholic could very easily remain true and loyal to the Pope and at the same time say that his decision involving the SSPX was imprudent, unwise, rash, a “bum deal” or whatever else. A brief perusal of Catholic history shows a plethora of Papal decisions that fall into those categories (an example in the history of the Franciscans might be Pope John XXII, the Avignon papacy, etc). Are we not justified to hold the view that Popes can make bad, nay even terrible decisions? I don’t see this as turning my back on the Holy See as long as I do not take the next step and say that because the Pope made a bad decision, he doesn’t have the authority to make a bad decision (his supreme governance).
Edited to add: I just wanted to make it clear that I am speaking on matters of governance, not morals or doctrine.
If you read what Pope Benedict has been saying through all of this is that the pope does not need infallibility to govern and the faithful are still bound to obey, regardless of what we think. This is why he has used St. Francis three times in two years to teach on governance.
He told the bishops of Italy that they needed to take this example and put it into practice ASAP. He just told the bishops of Austria the same thing. And he said this two years ago at a public audience with the laity.
He’s trying to drive home a point. Papal decisions must be obeyed and complaining is not what saints do.
If one reads Light of the World, he speaks to the issue of the SSPX as an issue of obedience, not a matter of who’s right wrong, but who has the right to command obedience. He makes it clear that only the Primacy has that right. Pope Benedict does not tolerate defiance very well.
He is much better with intellectual dissent. He loves a good debate. He’s a scholar. What should we expect. But when he says jump, he expects everyone to ask “How high?” He is also very clear that he does not like things to drag on. He will expect the Catholic population to comply and move on.
I believe that’s why he continues to bring up St. Francis. St. Francis and St. Dominic were that kind of men and they formed their followers that way, lay and religious. You obey and you move on. You don’t dwell on it. You don’t discuss what has been decided. You don’t bring it up again. There are other things to do. The pope doesn’t have to be right to be the pope. Unless he commands you to sin, there is nothing to discuss.
Pope Benedict seems very insistent on bringing back the spirituality of St. Benedict, St. Francis and St. Dominic. Francis and Dominic were influenced by Benedict. He wants to bring it back to laity, clergy and religious, because he speaks to all three groups about the same theme.
In our American mind, we think that if it’s not an infallible statement, it can be questioned and discussed until eternity. But that’s not the mendicant mindset. Pope Benedict identifies very much with Francis and Dominic. He brings them up as models of Catholicism every chance he gets and he never fails to go on and on about their unquestioning obedience. Read the link that I provided above.
On the surface it appears to be about St. Francis, but underneath, the Pope is speaking about communion of governance.
Fraternally,
Br. JR, FFV
