Tag: Sedevacantist

Empty chairs at empty altars: Part 3

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Yesterday I discussed Mike’s view of the Church and the awkward predicament which comes about from his belief in the conclusion of the sacraments, the papacy, the priesthood and apostolic succession. Today I’d like to finish off by looking at Mike’s treatment of Pope Benedict (who was Pope at the time of our correspondence).

Thus speaketh The Google!

Mike asked me “Why do you think you get over 1,000.000 hits … when you Google … ‘Benedict XVI is a heretic’?”. I said that the answer to that was easy! There are a lot of people non-Catholics out there who think Benedict is a heretic! I would suggest that, since these people would not be Catholic, Mike would probably regard such people as heretics themselves!

Additionally, it’s worth knowing that such a Google query would also return pages which speak of Pope Benedict fighting against heresy. But rather than spend time explaining in more detail how Google determines its search results, I decided to use Mike’s test and apply it to himself…

When I typed into Google the phrase “Mike is a heretic” I found I got 2,540,000 results! That’s over double the number of pages! So…what does that prove? Well, I’d say it probably proves about as much as Mike’s Google query for Pope Benedict…

Benedict XVI

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Empty chairs at empty altars: Part 2

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Yesterday I began talking about an exchange I had with Mike, a sedevacantist gentleman who asserts that the Second Vatican Council was a heretical council…

A Future Restoration?

If one ascribed to Mike’s assessment of Catholicism, things really do look pretty bleak: virtually every Catholic has been excommunicated from the Church and, as a result, there are no priests or Sacraments. I was intrigued as to how Mike imagined this dire situation ever being resolved. I mean, if one held to his position, the New Covenant is in tatters! Wouldn’t Jesus need to come back to re-instute the papacy, the priesthood and the Sacraments? But this is a problem since we know that Jesus isn’t returning until His Second Coming. Here is what Mike had to say:

“I can’t tell you the nature of the Divine intercession by which the hierarchy of the Catholic Church will be restored, if this were God’s will”

Doesn’t it seem odd that Jesus would establish the Papacy, only to see it disappear from the earth with no possible way of being restored? In response to this question, Mike asked me why I trusted the Pope. I said that it’s simply because I trust Jesus Christ. He established Peter as the rock. He gave Peter the keys. If the papacy could survive Pope Alexander VI, I’m pretty sure it can survive Pope Benedict XVI!

Vatican II

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Friday Frivolity: Excommunicating The Pope

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A few days ago, there was an article over at Shameless Popery which asked the question What if a Bishop (or the Pope) is Morally Wrong?  It was a superb blog entry, up to Joe’s usual high standard. If you haven’t read it, you really should… you are subscribed to Shameless Popery right?!

I’ve often come across Protestants who think that the Catholic Doctrine of Papal Infallibility means that every word that comes out of the mouth of the Pope is 100% true and orthodox. This is not true! Joe’s article explains this in more detail and looks specifically at an example from the life of Pope John XXII.

When I read the article I had flashbacks to a YouTube video I stumbled upon a while ago so I went and dug it out again. I feel a little bad for posting this for Friday Frivolity, but there are so many things in this video which are just so…so….well, watch it….you’ll see…

If that’s not enough for you today, I’d suggest you go watch the “Pope Michael” documentary…