Vatican Theologian Calls For Study Of Pope Benedict's Resignation

Noted Vatican Theologian Calls For Study of Pope Benedict’s Resignation

In an important interview that was overlooked last month, a Vatican theologian said that unless Pope Francis corrects himself and reaffirms Church teaching on morals, the faith, and the sacraments, "the apostasy will deepen and the de facto schism will widen."

To address the current crisis, he suggested that an examination of the “juridical validity” of Pope Benedict’s XVI’s resignation was in order to “overcome problems that today seem insurmountable to us.” The theologian consultor to the Congregation for the Causes of Saints was implying that further study of the situation could reveal that Francis is not and has never been a valid pope, but is, in fact, an antipope who could be removed from the papacy, thus nullifying his "insurmountable" errors.

Msgr. Nicola Bux, a former consultor to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith under Benedict XVI, made the remarkable comments in an in-depth interview with Vatican reporter Aldo Maria Valli, the same reporter who interviewed Archbishop Carlo Viganò before he accused the pope of covering up clerical sexual misconduct in a stunning eleven-page letter back in August.

Writing on his own blog, National Catholic Register reporter Edward Pentin says that Bux warned that the current pope is issuing statements that are generating “heresies, schisms, and controversies of various kinds” and that the pontiff should issue a profession of faith to restore unity in the Church.

Msgr. Bux explained that "the distancing and deviation from the faith is called heresy" and "in the case of manifest heresy, according to St. Robert Bellarmine, the pope can be judged."

He added that "the pope is called by the Lord to spread the Catholic faith, but to do so he must prove capable of defending it." 

Valli asked the monsignor if he was saying a pope found to be heretical would "cease to be the pope and head of the ecclesial body, and he loses all jurisdiction."

He suggested that from a practical point of view, "it would be easier to examine and study more accurately the question concerning the juridical validity of Pope Benedict XVI's renunciation," for example, examining whether it was "full or partial ('halfway')." Msgr. Bux added that "the idea of a sort of collegiate papacy seems to me decidedly against the Gospel dictate."

Msgr. Bux argued that with Pope Francis, "great change" in the church is "palpable," along with a clear intention to "break with the previous pontificates."

"This discontinuity -- a revolution -- generates heresies, schisms and controversies of various kinds. However, all of them can be traced back to sin," he said.  Quoting 3rd century Church Father Origen of Alexandria, he added: "Where there is sin, there we find multiplicity, there schisms, there heresies, there the controversies. Where virtue reigns, there is unity, there is communion, thanks to which all believers were one heart and one soul."