T
Tsuwano
Guest
I don’t know why your words are in response to my post. My post responded to someone who claimed the SSPX submitted to the authority of the Church and the Holy Father. My post stated that, though this is what the SSPX would have you believe, it is, in fact, not true.When he commands what is evil, it is an absolute duty to resist him - and it is an enormous sin to obey him, if the evil is a great one.
What people don’t seem to understand is that the Pope’s authority is not value-free, and his commands are not valid merely by being commands. His authority is given him so that he may build up the Church, not that he may tear it down: as the coronation rite made very clear. When he sins against the faith, he cannot now be judged; but he can be resisted, and should be resisted. If he were to attempt to abolish a Rite, he should be resisted. There are many things he cannot do without sinning - his power is very ample, but it is not boundless. The Church is not a dictatorship, nor is it tolerable that it should allowed to be one. So he cannot do anything whatever, but only some things. This has all been hammered out by the theologians and approved authors of the past (several of them Doctors or Saints).
I’m not even Traditional, particularly - but that much I do know. Venerable Robert Grosseteste, Bishop of Lincoln (d.1253), opposed corrupt action by Innocent IV, and resisted him, and refused to obey him. It is the bishop, who was renowned for his holiness even in his lifetime, who is reckoned as a holy man: not the Pope he opposed. Disobedience, even to a Pope, can be necessary if God is not to be disobeyed. “We must obey God, rather than men”, said Peter & John (Acts 5.29) Had they obeyed the command of men, there would have no more preaching of Christ.
Your post is something completely different. You are talking about whether it is always moral or if it has always been “traditional” to submit to the authority of the Pope. That is a different question entirely and has little to do with what I wrote. Your post would be relevant if the SSPX claimed they are not in obedience to the Pope and were attempting to justify their refusal to obey. In fact, however, they do claim to be obedient to the Pope. They are not attempting to justify disobedience as righteous or moral disobedience, but rather disguising disobedience as obedience in the hope of avoiding condemnation from the Church. Your arguments may have merit, but I fail to see how they respond to what I wrote.
