Michael Fighting
"Michael…who standeth for…thy people," — Dan. 12:1-12
Can a Pope Become a Heretic?
The answer is obvious upon reading Cum ex, and yet this question remains a popular one amongst Traditionalists. Recently a book has surfaced in Spanish treating this topic, but unfortunately no translation of this work is yet forthcoming.
I. The following is an outline explaining the main issues in the “heretical pope” controversy:
A. The Vatican Council declared that Peter’s unfailing faith (infallibility) prevented the possibility of a true pope teaching heresy publicly, and condemned the opposite opinion as heresy.1. This is the Church’s formal definition of the meaning of Christ’s words, “I have prayed for thee Peter, that thy faith fail not; and thou being once confirmed, confirm thy brethren,” also “The gates of Hell shall not prevail against the Church.”2. St. Robert Bellarmine is commonly held to have believed that a pope could fall into heresy and by that fact would cease to be pope.a. Bellarmine’s works have been seriously misrepresented as supporting the (now heretical) theory that a pope could become a heretic, when in fact St. Bellarmine clearly stated in his de Romano Pontifice that a pope could never become a heretic.b. Those quoting Bellarmine have falsely represented his presentation of the teachings of heretics and those questions he answers concerning heretical errors as his own teachingc. Those citing Bellarmine’s works never made it clear to their readers that Bellarmine was refuting arguments advanced by the Protestants of his day; they cited the argument set forth for refutation, but not the refutation itself. d. The closest Bellarmine ever came to this error was his consideration of whether a pope could fall into heresy as a private personi. Yet neither Bellarmine, nor St. Alphonsus Liguori, as some have contrarily maintained, believed the pope could fall into heresy as a private person. In fact both taught that this was not possible.ii. Theologians quoted as teaching that a pope could become a heretic following the Vatican Council may have been setting out the teaching as it developed over the centuries, for purposes of demonstrating its development to the present; or, if they openly taught it, did so in direct opposition to the Vatican Council definitions.iii. All of these points have been presented in an earlier chapter.e. Pope Paul IV taught that an erring pope must be contradicted (Cum ex Apostolatus Officio, Sec. 1), but his statement was made in the context in which he considered how such a calamity might befall the Church. For in opposition to the papal heresy crowd, he taught that any pope who publicly utters a heresy only appears to be pope and in reality was a heretic prior to his election, for Christ has guaranteed Peter’s faith. 