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QUESTION 7
SHOULD WE FOLLOW EVERYTHING THAT THE POPE
JOHN PAUL II DOES? |
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NB: Though Pope John Paul II is deceased (R.I.P.), the same
Catholic principles outlined below regarding the practice of
the moral virtue of obedience still apply to the pontificate
of Pope Benedict XVI. |
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This pope arouses various sympathies, some Catholics lauding his stand on
moral issues or that of women priests, others scandalized at the
encouragement he gives all “religions” and his preaching based on the
dignity of man. How are we to understand him? |
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In the opening address (Acta Apostolica Sedis; LXX, p. 920ff) of his pontificate, Pope John Paul II declared that his first aim would be to promote and implement the decrees of
Vatican II and to bring to light all it contained implicitly. He says the 1983 Code of Canon Law is an effort to put
Conciliar doctrine, and especially its
new ecclesiology, into canonical language (Sacra Disciplinae
Leges; Jan. 25, 1983). The Catechism of the Catholic Church is likewise an effort to renew the life of the Church as desired and
begun by Vatican II (Fidei Depositum; Oct. 11, 1992). Look at the
references in any of his encyclicals; see the preponderance of the Second
Vatican Council and its teachings. The gravity of this situation lies in
the fact that Vatican II actually favors heresy (QUESTION
6) *. |
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* NB:
Certain theologians (De Lubac, Von Baltasar, Congar) have been named cardinals
by Pope John Paul II for the very teachings that saw them reprimanded by the
pre-Conciliar magisterium. |
Moreover, with the prolongation of his reign and the prolificacy of his writings and discourses, however, it has become ever more clear that Pope
John Paul II is preaching a new religion, a humanism, a gospel of the intrinsic goodness of man, thanks to God’s becoming man, with the implied
consequence of the salvation of all men. His starting point is Vatican II (Gaudium et Spes, §22):
Human nature, by the very
fact that it was assumed, not absorbed, in him, has been raised in us also to a
dignity beyond compare. For, by his incarnation, he, the son of God, has in a
certain way united himself with each man.
The pope is constantly basing his teaching on
these lines of Vatican II (by way of example:
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Redemptor Hominis, §§8, 13, 18;
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Evangelium
Vitae, §§2, 104;
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Tertio Millennio Adveniente, §4;
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Sign of
Contradiction, Karol Wojtyla, Geoffrey Chapman, p. 101ff) using them
to illustrate this novel doctrine of universal salvation;
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Pope John Paul II's Theological Journey to the Prayer Meeting of
Religions in Assisi: Part I, pp. 78-95 [APPENDIX
II]).
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ACTIONS
SPEAK LOUDER THAN WORDS:
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Pope John Paul II preached in a Lutheran church
(December 11,
1983)
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recited psalms with Jews while visiting the
synagogue of Rome (April 13, 1986)
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invited Catholics and Jews to prepare together for the coming of the Messiah (June 24,
1986)
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engaged in
dialogues with the high priests and witch doctors of Voodoo (February 4, 1993)
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took part in Animist rites in the “Sacred Forest” in Togo
(August 8,
1985)
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had the sacred Tilac put on his forehead by a priestess of Shiva in Bombay
(February 2,
1986)
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and invited representatives of the “main religions” (about
130 came) to Assisi to pray for peace (October 27, 1986).
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Above,
Pope John Paul II meets with the Chief Rabbi of Rome in the
Synagoge to recite Psalms with him and his congregation.
To the left, in an action that scandalized Catholics
everywhere, the pope
kissed the Koran, which
refers to Christians as "pigs"
for their belief
in the Holy Trinity and which also says,
that a Muslim goes to Heaven if he
kills an infidel; i.e.
a Christian.
Such false ecumenical actions on the part of the
pope
simply continue to
multiply. |
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Everywhere and with all he praises the “values” of these false religions but fails to tell them that
they and their people must convert if they want to be saved.
Therefore, both in word and deed, he is preaching that all men of whatever creed are acceptable to God, which is contrary to Catholic dogma
(PRINCIPLE
2).
In this we cannot follow this pope’s ideas but must hold fast to the doctrine constantly taught by the Church of all time.
BUT HOW ARE WE TO JUDGE HIM?
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It is
not for us to judge his culpability in the destruction of the Church, more
devastating now than in any previous pontificate (with the probable
exception of pope Paul VI’s). Only God can so judge him,
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nor is it for us to judge him juridically
—the Pope has no superior on earth —or to declare unquestionably null all his acts,
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but we must make a judgment of his words and actions inasmuch as they affect our eternal salvation, as our Savior said:
"Beware of false prophets who come to you in the clothing of sheep, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. By their fruits you shall know them."
(Mt. 7:15)
We are not to cooperate blindly in the destruction of the
Church by tolerating the implementation of a new religion or by not doing what we
can to defend our Catholic faith. Archbishop Lefebvre was surely our model here.
The Church is in crisis. If the pope really wants the aid of heaven, he
has only to do what God wants. A good first step would be to take
seriously all three parts of the secret of Our Lady of Fatima, and consecrate
Russia as she has requested. But how can he, when he pretends that the “fall of
Communism” in the USSR is the fulfillment of Our Lady’s promises and the hope of
world peace? Fatima: Tragedy and Triumph, Fr. Francois de Marie des
Anges. Immaculate Heart Press, pp. 209-217
BUT ISN’T HE INFALLIBLE WHEN IMPOSING TEACHING ON THE CHURCH
(e.g., the teaching understood by the
1983 Code of
Canon Law)?
The pope is infallible primarily in matters of faith and morals, and secondarily in matters of discipline (legislation for the Universal Church,
canonizations, etc.) to the extent that these involve faith and morals (cf.
PRINCIPLE 4), and then only when imposing for all time a definitive teaching.
Now “infallible” means immutable and irreformable (PRINCIPLE
6), but, the hallmark of the
Conciliar Popes, like the
Modernists (Pascendi, [APPENDIX
II]). To what extent can such minds want irreformably to define or absolutely to impose? They do not and, in fact,
“they cannot...” Archbishop Lefebvre, Econe, June 12, 1984. Cf.
QUESTION 15, n.3. For Pope John Paul II, this is evident by his understanding of his own authority as presented in
Ut Unum Sint (May 25, 1995). After
summarizing the traditional teaching on the Petrine office (§§90-94) he goes on to wonder how to exercise the primacy in the new situation of
recognition of other Christians as being in partial communion with the Catholic Church (§95); how it may
“accomplish a service of love recognized
by all” (ibid.), and whether we could get together with non-Catholics to learn from them on this score (§96). This is confirmed by his acceptance of
the new collegial understanding of authority (1983 Code of Canon Law, canons 331, 336). |
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