Fr. Felix Cappello, S.J., on a hot-button issue…

Distinguished Pre-Vatican II Theologian:
A Heretical Pope is Impossible

The Jesuit Fr. Felix Cappello (1879-1962) was an outstanding theologian of the Catholic Church. He held doctorates in Sacred Theology, philosophy, and canon law. He taught at the Pontifical Gregorian University from 1920 to 1959 and served as a Vatican advisor.

In 1911/12, Fr. Cappello’s 2-volume work De Curia Romana (“On the Roman Curia”) was published. Volume 2 deals specifically with the Roman Curia during a time when there is no Pope, the state of sede vacante. It contains a treatment of the question of the “heretical Pope” (Papa haereticus) and whether the Church has the power to depose him.… READ MORE