Our recent article, which defended Archbishop Viganò from the charge of schism, summarized a number of arguments which point towards Francis not being a true pope.
That article promised more detailed expositions of these arguments. This is the first of those more detailed explanations and deals with the argument that Francis is not the true pope because he is not a member of the Catholic Church, as a result of his departure from the public profession of the Catholic faith.
Essays of a Catholic
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Who are the members of the Catholic Church?
The Catholic Church teaches that her members are those who:
- have received the sacrament of baptism
- publicly profess the Catholic faith
- submit to the lawful authorities of the Church.
As a consequence, the following can never, under any circumstances, be considered as members of the Catholic Church.
- the unbaptized
- public heretics
- public schismatics.
Those whom ecclesiastical authority has excluded by its own act, that is, those subject to a sentence of perfect excommunication, are also not to be regarded as members.
This doctrine of membership has, for many centuries, been clearly proposed to the faithful, in dozens, possibly hundreds of catechetical texts, which have been approved by the Roman Pontiffs or by the Successors of the Apostles who govern the Church in union with him. This doctrine must be regarded as infallible by virtue of being taught by the universal and ordinary magisterium of the Church.
The Catechism of the Council of Trent expressed the doctrine in these terms:
[T]here are but three classes of persons excluded from the Church’s pale: infidels, heretics and schismatics, and excommunicated persons.
Infidels are outside the Church because they never belonged to, and never knew the Church, and were never made partakers of any of her Sacraments.
Heretics and schismatics are excluded from the Church, because they have separated from her and belong to her only as deserters belong to the army from which they have deserted.
[…]
Finally, excommunicated persons are not members of the Church, because they have been cut off by her sentence from the number of her children and belong not to her communion until they repent.[1]
The most recent authoritative expression of the doctrine is found in the encyclical letter Mystici Corporis Christi, promulgated by Pope Pius XII in 1943, in which the Supreme Pontiff taught that:
Actually, only those are to be included as members of the Church who have been baptized and profess the true faith, and who have not been so unfortunate as to separate themselves from the unity of the body or been excluded by legitimate authority for grave faults committed.[2]
The Vicar of Christ continued:
For not every sin, however grave it may be, is such as of its own nature to sever a man from the Body of the Church, as does schism or heresy or apostasy.[3]
The membership of heretics is incompatible with the end of the Catholic Church
The Catholic Church is:
The society of men who, by their profession of the same faith, and by their partaking of the same sacraments, make up, under the rule of apostolic pastors and their head, the kingdom of Christ on earth.[4]
Membership of this society is attained by the sacrament of baptism, which is accompanied by a public profession of the Catholic faith. This public profession is made in person by the convert who has reached the age of reason, or by godparents on behalf of one without the use of reason.
At baptism a person becomes subject to the authority of Jesus Christ, the Divine Head of the Catholic Church, as exercised through His Vicar, the Roman Pontiff, and the other Successors of the Apostles who govern the Church in union with him as members of the Apostolic College.
Our Lord Jesus Christ exercises a threefold power over the Church. By His sanctifying power, men are made holy by the sacraments, and His Sacrifice is re-presented on our altars. By his teaching power, the Catholic faith is infallibly transmitted to each generation. By His governing authority, He directs His flock towards eternal life.
To become, and to remain, members of the Church it is necessary to be subject to this threefold authority of Jesus Christ, which is exercised by the ecclesiastical hierarchy. To reject it in a fundamental way is to sever oneself from the Mystical Body of Christ.
Dr. Ludwig Ott explained:
According to [Pope Pius XII in the encyclical letter Mystici Corporis Christi] three conditions are required for membership of the Church: a) The valid reception of the Sacrament of Baptism. b) The profession of the true faith. c) Participation in the Communion of the Church. By the fulfilment of these three conditions one subjects oneself to the threefold office of the Church, the sacerdotal office (Baptism), the teaching office (Confession of Faith), and the pastoral office (obedience to Church authority).[5]
He continued:
As the three powers perpetuated in these offices… constitute the unity and the visibility of the Church, subjection to each and all of these powers, is a condition for membership of the Church.[6]
And with reference to the condition of profession of the true faith he stated:
The Confession of the true Faith and the adherence to the communion of the Church are for adults the subjective conditions for the achievement and the unhindered perpetuation of their membership of the Church which is initiated by baptism.[7]
And he continues by affirming:
How the Catholic Churc...
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That those who dissociate themselves from the Faith and from the communion of the Church, cease to be members of the Church, is the general conviction of Tradition.[8]
A more detailed treatment of the Catholic Church as a society, and the relationship between submission to authority and membership of the Church, can be found here.
In brief: every society is formed by members who pursue a common end under the direction of the properly constituted authorities. Membership of a society is impossible for an individual who refuses to share with other members in pursuing that common end under the common leadership of its legitimate authority.
It is therefore impossible for a public heretic or a public schismatic to remain a member of the Catholic Church – even for a second – because those states are a fundamental rejection of the divinely established authority which teaches and governs it. This is why Pope Pius XII taught that public schism and public heresy is “of its own nature” such as “to sever a man from the Body of the Church.”
We will now explore this doctrine in more detail with reference to public heresy.
