The Limits of Papal Power: Contrasting Traditional Catholic Teaching with Recognize-and-Resist Distortion

Enough of the semi-trad sophistry!

The Limits of Papal Power: Contrasting Traditional Catholic Teaching with the Recognize-and-Resist Distortion


Detail taken from “Homage by Catholics to Pope Pius IX” by Wilhelmus Petrus van Geldorp (1871)

The semi-traditionalist pundits of our day love to pontificate (pardon the pun) on the limits of the Papacy. The Pope can’t just do whatever he pleases, they (rightly) point out and thereby (wrongly) feel vindicated in their theologically disastrous position of recognizing Jorge Bergoglio as Pope (Francis), while nevertheless resisting his magisterium, his acts of governance, his canonizations, and his liturgical prescriptions where they believe these deviate from what he ought to be teaching and legislating.… READ MORE

Too Traditional for Tradition? Peter Kwasniewski vs. Pope Saint Pius X

Will the real Traditionalist please stand up?

Too Traditional for Tradition?
Peter Kwasniewski vs. Pope St. Pius X

UPDATE 08-DEC-2023 17:44 UTC:

Dr. Kwasniewski has contacted Novus Ordo Watch and disputed the accuracy of our claim that he has never had an official teaching mandate from the Novus Ordo hierarchy.

Here are the professor’s comments in full, which we are repeating here for the sake of accuracy and fairness:

I noticed in your latest article about my “hubris” a simple factual error:

“When an academic who has a Ph.D. in philosophy but no degree in theology, and who has never had an official teaching mandate from what he recognizes to be the lawful ecclesiastical authority…”

In fact, I received the mandatum to teach theology twice: first from Cardinal Schönborn (yes, I know… but he was the bishop of the diocese in which the International Theological Institute was located), and then from Bishop David Ricken of Cheyenne (prior to his transfer to Green Bay).

… READ MORE

Reaction Roundup: Semi-Trads Lose It after Francis Pulls the Plug on Strickland

Defiance, denial, disconcertion…

Reaction Roundup: Semi-Trads Lose It after Francis Pulls the Plug on Strickland

Unless you were under a rock the past three days, chances are you’ve heard about 65-year-old ‘Bishop’ Joseph Edward Strickland of Tyler, Texas, being removed from his post by Jorge Bergoglio, the Argentinian apostate currently occupying the Vatican guest house under the stage name ‘Pope Francis’. We blogged about it when it on Saturday:

It was a given that this development, not unexpected, would generate a tidal wave of reactions, and so it has.… READ MORE

Exclusive Translation: Pope Pius IX’s Apostolic Letter ‘Multiplices Inter’ of 1851

Condemnation of sundry familiar-sounding errors…

Exclusive Translation:
Pope Pius IX’s Apostolic Letter Multiplices Inter of 1851

Pope Pius IX was the second-longest-reigning Pope in the history of the Catholic Church.

Born Giovanni Maria Mastai-Ferretti in 1792, he reigned as Pope Pius IX for nearly 32 years, from June 16, 1846 until his death on Feb. 7, 1878. The only Pope who reigned longer than he was St. Peter.

One of the highlights of Pius IX’s long pontificate was the Syllabus of Errors, released on Dec. 8, 1864, along with the encyclical letter Quanta Cura, in which he declared:

But now, as is well known to you, Venerable Brethren, already, scarcely had we been elevated to this Chair of Peter (by the hidden counsel of Divine Providence, certainly by no merit of our own), when, seeing with the greatest grief of Our soul a truly awful storm excited by so many evil opinions, and (seeing also) the most grievous calamities never sufficiently to be deplored which overspread the Christian people from so many errors, according to the duty of Our Apostolic Ministry, and following the illustrious example of Our Predecessors, We raised Our voice, and in many published Encyclical Letters and Allocutions delivered in Consistory, and other Apostolic Letters, we condemned the chief errors of this most unhappy age, and we excited your admirable episcopal vigilance, and we again and again admonished and exhorted all sons of the Catholic Church, to us most dear, that they should altogether abhor and flee from the contagion of so dire a pestilence.

… READ MORE

Target: Tyler, Texas – A Commentary on the sticky Strickland Situation

An Argentinian in Rome is not amused…

Target: Tyler, Texas
A Commentary on the sticky Strickland Situation

By now presumably everyone reading this post is aware of the news The Pillar broke on Monday:

At a meeting Saturday [Sep. 9. 2023], Pope Francis discussed with Vatican officials the prospect of requesting the resignation of Bishop Joseph Strickland of the Diocese of Tyler, Texas, The Pillar has learned.

The pope met Sept. 9 with Archbishop Robert Prevost, OSA, head of the Dicastery for Bishops, and Archbishop Christophe Pierre, apostolic nuncio to the United States – both cardinals-elect.

Several sources close to the dicastery told The Pillar ahead of the meeting that the prelates would present the pope with the results of an apostolic visitation of Strickland’s diocese, conducted earlier this year, as well as subsequent public actions by the bishop, who has emerged as an outspoken critic of the Holy Father.

… READ MORE

TRADCAST 036 is here: Ecclesiastical Déjà Vu: The Apostasy Advances, Semi-Trads out of Ideas

Novus Ordo Watch for your ears…

Ecclesiastical Déjà Vu:
The Apostasy Advances, Semi-Trads out of Ideas

TRADCAST 036 now available

TRADCAST — The Traditional Catholic Podcast

CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFORMATION
AND TO LISTEN TO ALL EPISODES

In case you missed our initial announcement on July 28: We have published another full-length episode of our popular TRADCAST podcast program. As always, it is loaded with real traditional Catholicism, insightful commentary, hard-hitting refutations of various errors, and razor-sharp analysis. Our content is typically challenging but is always delivered in an accessible way — and with an occasional relieving touch of humor, so necessary in our chaotic and bizarre times.… READ MORE

TRADCAST 036 (July 28, 2023)

TRADCAST 036 (28 JUL 2023)

Contents

  • Segment 1 — Ecclesiastical déjà vu: the eerie similarities between the 1960s and today; critique of a recent Remnant article by Robert Morrison; ecumenical requiem for a glacier; some comments on the Victor Manuel Fernandez appointment; how Vatican City defends its own borders; Vatican condemns desecration of religious symbols as offense against human dignity; president of ‘Pontifical International Marian Academy’ says Marian apparitions that warn of divine punishment are false.
  • Segment 2 — Francis’ message to World Youth Day pilgrims; Francis to travel to Mongolia; comments on the upcoming Synod on Synodality; response to Remnant editor Michael Matt and his ‘Bellarmine Moment’; critique of Peter Kwasniewski’s attempt to bring a Coptic Orthodox man back to the Vatican II Church.
… READ MORE

Against the ‘New Papacy’ of Peter Kwasniewski

Remaking the Papacy to fit Bergoglio into it…

Against the ‘New Papacy’ of Peter Kwasniewski

[This post is a follow-up to Rethinking Peter Kwasniewski: A Sedevacantist Critique of his Anti-Papal Traditionalism.]

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

Enough of the nonsense!

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

Bergoglio breaks the Semi-Trads: Is the Fence-Sitting coming to an End?

Recognize-and-Resisters pushed over the edge…

Bergoglio breaks the Semi-Trads: Is the Fence-Sitting coming to an End?

Good news, everyone: It seems more and more semi-traditionalists are finally at the breaking point with Jorge Bergoglio. His recent apology tour for indigenous Canadians seems to have put some people over the edge. During this trip, the man otherwise known by his stage name, “Pope Francis”, did not just unload heaps of the expected ideological blather, he also participated in a pagan smudge ceremony petitioning the “western grandmother” for “access to the sacred circle of spirits”.

At this point, even Taylor Marshall has had enough: “I’m at a loss.… READ MORE

No Jekyll-and-Hyde Magisterium: Against the Theological Sophistry of Peter Kwasniewski

Powerful refutation of semi-trad star apologist

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

“Rethinking” the Papacy? A New Narrative for the Semi-Trads

Think again, fellows!

“Rethinking” the Papacy?
A New Narrative for the Semi-Trads

One gets the feeling that the recognize-and-resist traditionalists over at One Peter Five cannot contain their enthusiasm. They have latched onto a novel concept they think can vindicate their traditionalism vis-à-vis “Pope” Francis and yet also preserve them from the oh-so detested Sedevacantism. They are now openly floating the idea of rethinking the Papacy.

Just the other day One Peter Five issued a call for article submissions. As in, “This is the position we’re going to be taking, and now we need people to provide the argumentation to back it up.”… READ MORE

Still Lost in Blunderland (PART THREE): Refuting Peter Kwasniewski’s Latest Attack on Ultramontanism

Where he plays another round of flamingo croquet with theology!

Still Lost in Blunderland: Refuting Peter Kwasniewski’s Latest Specious Attack on Ultramontanism

(PART THREE)

by Francis del Sarto

CONTINUED FROM PART 2…

A Brief Review

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

Dreary Christmas: Semi-Trads excoriate Francis over new Latin Mass Restrictions

Bah, humbug!

Dreary Christmas: Semi-Trads excoriate Francis over new Latin Mass Restrictions

Move over, Grinch, Scrooge, and other sourpusses: No one wrecks Christmas like the Frankster!

This past Saturday, Dec. 18, His Phoniness “Pope” Francis (Jorge Bergoglio) issued an utterly merciless decree against those in his Modernist church who attempt to practice traditional Catholicism while nevertheless recognizing him as Pope. As they are dependent on ready access to the Traditional Latin Mass “in full communion” with the Modernist hierarchy as the center of their sacramental lives, Francis knows exactly the spot at which to strike to ensure they will hurt the most.… READ MORE

TRADCAST 031 is here: Catholicism and the Post-Catholic Church

Novus Ordo Watch for your ears…

Catholicism and the Post-Catholic Church:

TRADCAST 031 now available

TRADCAST — The Traditional Catholic Podcast

CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFORMATION
AND TO LISTEN TO ALL EPISODES

In case you missed our initial announcement on Nov. 10: We have published another full-length episode of our popular TRADCAST podcast program. As always, it is loaded with real traditional Catholicism, insightful commentary, hard-hitting refutations of various errors, and razor-sharp analysis. Our content is typically challenging but is always delivered with a relieving touch of humor, so necessary in our chaotic and bizarre times.

TRADCAST 031 features a diversity of topics: We begin the first segment by contrasting Francis’ insistence that no one be marginalized, excluded, or discriminated against for being different, with his new Vatican City ordinance that excludes from entry all those who do not present a so-called “Green Pass”.… READ MORE