On Jan. 4, 2023, the American philosopher Dr. Peter Kwasniewski published an article on One Peter Five entitled “Abandoning the Church Has No Appeal for Traditionalists”, and in this post we will respond to it. By “Traditionalists” he means the people in the Vatican II Church who recognize Francis as the legitimate Pope but resist him in whatever they personally decide is “not in accordance with Tradition”.
We prefer to call such souls — many of whom are genuinely devout and good people who love our Lord beyond measure — “semi-traditionalists”, because, whether intended or not, their adherence to Catholic Tradition is partial only: For one thing, they do not admit the traditional teaching regarding the Papacy and the Church, which is irreconcilable with the idea that the public apostate Jorge Bergoglio (“Pope Francis”) could be the successor of St.… READ MORE
Rethinking Peter Kwasniewski: A Sedevacantist Critique of his Anti-Papal Traditionalism
No Traditionalist when it comes to the Papacy: Philosopher Peter A. Kwasniewski, Ph.D.
Dr. Peter Kwasniewski has been busy “rethinking the Papacy”, and the results are not surprising.
Ever since he first identified, back in 2019, what he calls the “spirit of Vatican I” (that’s Vatican One, referring to the Vatican Council of 1870) as the fundamental problem in the church today “which it will take a mighty exorcism to drive away”, he has not ceased to attack the traditional Catholic teaching on the Papacy in one way or another.… READ MORE
The apostate Jorge Bergoglio in Istanbul, Turkey, Nov. 30, 2014 (image: Shutterstock/Alexandros Michailidis/cropped)
Five years ago today, on Sep. 24, 2017, a number of conservative and traditionalist adherents of the religious establishment headed by Jorge Bergoglio (“Pope Francis”) made public a long letter (dated Aug. 11, 2017) in which they accused their incredibly valid ‘Vicar of Christ’ of heresy, that is, of denying defined Catholic dogma.
Named Correctio Filialis (“Filial Correction”), the document did not merely contradict Francis’ errors, it de facto purported to overrule (“correct”) them.… READ MORE
The Vatican and the Ecumenical Movement:
From Stern Condemnation to Enthusiastic Approval
The Second Vatican Council in session (image: manhai/Flickr/CC BY 2.0; cropped)
The Second Vatican Council (1962-65) is the Modernist robber synod that was presided over by Angelo Roncalli (“Pope John XXIII”) and Giovanni Battista Montini (“Pope Paul VI”) to usher in the new religion that has since replaced Catholicism not only in the Vatican but also in all dioceses and religious orders under its jurisdiction.
To this very day there are still people who claim that the documents released by this fateful assembly, typically abbreviated as “Vatican II”, do not represent a genuine rupture in Catholic doctrine compared to the prior magisterium of 1,900 years.… READ MORE
No Jekyll-and-Hyde Magisterium: Against the Theological Sophistry of Peter Kwasniewski
On May 26, 2022, One Peter Five published another article by Dr. Peter Kwasniewski, the retired philosophy professor who is currently “rethinking the Papacy” in an effort to fit the square peg of Jorge Bergoglio (“Pope Francis”) into the round hole of the Petrine primacy:
The article’s chief contention is that the nature and role of the Church’s magisterium, specifically that of the Pope, has been unduly exaggerated by some to the detriment of Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition.… READ MORE
Pope Pius IX’s Syllabus of LEFEBVRIST Errors (1873)
On January 6, 1873, the magnificent Pope Pius IX published the encyclical letter Quartus Supra. It is addressed to “Our Venerable Brothers Anthony Peter IX, Patriarch of Cilicia, and the Archbishops, Bishops, Clergy and Laity, Our Beloved Children of the Armenian Rite Who are in Loving Communion with the Apostolic See.”
This beautiful magisterial text concerns the threat of an emerging schism in the Armenian church and refutes the specious argumentation brought forward by those trying to justify their disobedience while still claiming to be loyal subjects of the Pope.… READ MORE
Condemnation of 12 Propositions pertaining to the Philosophy of Action
December 1, 1924
Students of apologetics will be interested in the following reply of the Holy Office to a series of questions proposed regarding the doctrinal correctness of certain propositions held by some modern teachers in philosophy and theology. The twelve propositions here censured as untenable on Catholic scholastic grounds have in substance been condemned as contrary to right faith and morals by the doctrinal authority of the [First] Vatican Council, but are here separately emphasized to meet definite errors. [underlining added – English translation follows below]
Why some Catholics hold to the ‘Material-Formal Thesis’…
Apostolic Succession after Pope Pius XII:
Where is the Catholic Hierarchy?
In recent weeks there has been a considerable amount of online controversy among sedevacantists about the so-called “Material/Formal Theory” regarding the status of the Novus Ordo hierarchy, especially its so-called “popes”. Some cling adamantly to this thesis because they believe it to be significantly helpful or even essential to a proper understanding of the situation in the Catholic Church today, whereas others repudiate it because they judge it to be misleading or even a danger to the Faith. There are also those “in the middle” who do or don’t subscribe to the thesis but simply consider it a possible theological option, one that it would not be prudent to spend much time fighting over.… READ MORE
Top German Novus Ordo Bishop says Sodomy, Adultery not sinful, wants Catechism changed
(dpa picture alliance / Alamy Stock Photo)
The Mar. 3, 2022, issue of Bunte magazine, a German weekly that focuses on celebrity gossip, contains an interview with Dr. Georg Bätzing (pp. 44-46), the “Roman Catholic bishop” of Limburg, Germany.
What makes Batzing an object of interest for the secular press these days, however, is another office he currently holds: He is the president of the German Bishops’ Conference, which makes him the nation’s chief Novus Ordo bishop.… READ MORE
Pope Pius XII: Even if Not Convinced by Church Teaching, “Obligation to Obey Still Remains”
The heroically virtuous Pope Pius X was declared a saint in the year 1954 by Pope Pius XII. As the cardinals were all gathered in Rome for the joyous occasion of the canonization ceremony in late May, the Holy Father summoned them for an allocution (address) called Si Diligis that focused on the Catholic Church’s teaching office, her magisterium. This address is extremely instructive and available in full English translation at the following link:
Address of His Holiness Pope Pius XII to Cardinals, Archbishops, and Bishops on the Catholic Church and her Powers of Sanctifying and Ruling, Nov. 2, 1954
“Magnify the Lord with me; together let us extoll His name” (Ps. 33,4), for by a new favor from Heaven has Our desire been fulfilled, and at the same time We rejoice at the sight of you, beloved sons and venerable brothers, gathered before Us in such large numbers. And the consideration of the new liturgical feast of Mary, Mother of God and Queen of Heaven and Earth, which We just recently solemnly proclaimed, swells Our holy joy; for it is only fitting for her children to rejoice when they see an increase of honor accorded their mother.… READ MORE
In PART ONE of this article, we saw how Dr. Peter Kwasniewski discusses Ultramontanism and the Papacy using a strangely un-Catholic approach to the topic. His use of a secular encyclopedia rather than a Catholic theological reference work for his starting point was a telling and, surely, a totally calculated move on his part to help him discredit Ultramontanism. The real traditional Catholic position is at direct odds with his imaginary renderings of theology and Church history.… READ MORE
It is a justified critique of the Modernist concept of “faith” and Antipope Francis‘ synodal process, which is obviously aimed at changing the Catholic religion even further than the last 60 years have done. “But if everything is open to debate”, Morrison writes, “then we believe based on the consensus of men” and not on the authority of God revealing.… READ MORE
Refuting yet another attempt to avoid Sedevacantism…
Can the Magisterium ‘devour’ Sacred Tradition?
Reply to an irresponsible Article by Rorate Caeli
In their efforts to steer a middle course between the Novus Ordo religion on the one side and Sedevacantism on the other, the recognize-and-resist traditionalists must continually come up with ideas and arguments that justify a divorce of the Deposit of Faith from the Church’s magisterium. The reason is simple: The man they stubbornly insist on acknowledging as the true and valid Pope of the Catholic Church, is himself not a Catholic and teaches heresies and other anti-Catholic errors even in his official magisterial acts.… READ MORE
Paul VI in 1976: Vatican II is Binding, New Mass is Obligatory and Replaces the Old
Abp. Giovanni Montini played “Pope Paul VI” from 1963-78 (image credit: Keystone Press / Alamy Stock Photo)
If you’ve been researching Catholic Traditionalism for a while, chances are you’ve come across the argument made by recognize-and-resist apologists that “Pope” Paul VI (1963-78) himself confirmed that his Second Vatican Council (1962-65) was neither infallible nor binding.
Pope Paul VI promulgated Dignitatis humanae on 7 December 1965, and the next day he closed the Second Vatican Council and stated: “The magisterium of the Church did not wish to pronounce itself under the form of extraordinary dogmatic pronouncements” [footnote: Pope Paul VI, Discourse closing Vatican II, 7 December 1965].
