1. God does choose each and every valid Roman Pontiff. The so-called “bad popes” were chosen by God no less than the Pope-Saints, for reasons known well to the ineffable wisdom of God, and known by us poor fallen sinners partially, weakly, “through a glass darkly”.
2. The Church is indefectible. The Church, as an institution both human and divine, is indefectible in Her totality, including the human and institutional aspects of the Church. She can never go astray, lead astray, or fail.
3. Each Pope accepted by the body of Bishops as Roman Pontiff is certainly valid, as the body cannot follow a false head and remain indefectible.
4. Each valid Pope has the gift of truth, so that his infallible teachings and proclamation of dogmatic facts have complete immunity from error, and his non-infallible decisions of doctrine and discipline have immunity from grave error.
5. Each valid Pope has the gift of a never failing faith, so that, by the prevenient grace of God, which no one can resist, he can never commit apostasy, heresy, schism, idolatry, nor any other grave failure of faith.
6. Once a Roman Pontiff is the valid Pope, he can never lose validity in any way at any time, and his pontificate ends only with his death or valid resignation.
7. The body of Bishops possesses this same charism of truth and never failing faith, but only as a body, not as individuals.
8. The Church, the Pope, and the body of Bishops are each and all indefectible, and none can ever fail, go astray, or lead astray.
9. No valid Pope has ever been guilty of teaching grave error, nor of failing gravely in faith. No Pope has ever been guilty of apostasy, heresy, or idolatry. And this dogmatic fact is confirmed by the teaching of the First Vatican Council, Pastor Aeternus, 4:7.
10. Those Catholics who accuse Pope Francis of teaching grave error, or of committing apostasy, heresy, or idolatry, are themselves guilty of heresy, schism, and grave errors of doctrine.
Ronald L Conte Jr
the reproach of Christ 
7. The body of Bishops possesses this same charism of truth and never failing faith, but only as a body, not as individuals.
(your statement)
I think this statement is true but not absolute, why?
1. St.Paul an Apostle and Bishop united to Peter had not only proven indefectible but also infallible.
2. St.James also an Apostle to the Bishop was also seen as indefectible and his teachings or writings infallible.
3. Other Apostle who had a written teachings had also indefecitbility and infallibility.
A single Bishop united to Peter is also guided by the Holy Spirit and the Spirit of Truth and can also not commit any errors or heresy in their actions and teachings if they are “Totus Tuus” like St.JP2, meaning all their thoughts, words and actions were inspired by Our Lady the destroyer of all heresies.
How can a single Bishop united to the Pope possessed a never failing faith?
While the Pope have this gift of “never failing faith” by virtue of his divine office, the Apostle and Bishop also can possess this gift not by default but by meriting it, by living a pious life attuned to the Will of God.
If a single Bishop like St.Paul can boldly claimed or had reach and endured a saintly living like Christ.
Then, all of the single Bishop even a Priest like St.Vianney can exclaimed like St.boldly like Paul;
“It is no longer I who lived but Jesus”..
If a single Bishop had lived a life like St.Paul, then he too like Peter possessed a “never failing faith” and infallibilty in their teachings, not by default but thru the abundant graces merited by their pious life.
Let me say that: what the ultraconservatives are doing, de facto rolling back everything in the last two centuries, it Suicides the future of the Catholic Church. Thanks God they do not have the upper hand or majority. I know those people personally. Usually they are desperate from the world and their unhappy life, they have physical, mental and financial sufferings, and think they will compensate it by having endless pregnancies and by modern day fanaticism to reject the right of the Church to decide today things as it decided all the history. Furthermore, their blind hate against homosexuals, although it happens gay children among a family of ten, in their own families. They see Satan everywhere, only not in themselves that is the best place to search for his hideous influence.
That approach leads to dead end. Paradoxically the fanatics want it so they have end times in their lifetime. They don’t want to live this life. If there is ww3 they will say, a just war, and the Pope is socialist to reject the right of a just war. If there is mass extinction due to global climate change, they will say, a deserved punishment by God, nothing to do with our oil industry, more people die by abortion… If it was not a sin, i guess they would have killed themselves by now. And they kill any future of the Church and for their children alike. Thanks God they do not have the last word.
I pray the pope nails it down soon and rejects the returning to past centuries practices that anyway do not trace back to the apostles. Meek talks and persuasions do not help. We need decisive action. If we are to enter Peacefully and without massive unrests or worse in the era of peace. Let not underestimate the dare situation of large groups of population even among the most developed countries. Davos reports say about the inequality clearly enough. Let the Pope have the boldness to do what is right, and let those tongues of mastermind rebels be silenced! If needed, by excommunications. The cardinals who dare to rebel have no excuses. Better they go away than the billion wide flock to perish. Those cardinals and bishops Suicide the future of the Church. Let they go away now, before we all suffer even more.
Alex, don’t you suspect this is a comfort generalization? Do you really think ALL of conservatives are desperate, poor, etc?
It seems a little “straw man”, come on.
Ron C.
Just to amend my comment.
“The body of Bishops possesses this same charism of truth and never failing faith, but only as a body, not as individuals.”
The body of Bishops who act on their own initiative not following the Pope’s instructions does not possess the charism of truth.
Proof?
1, The recent controversial German Synod.
2.The disasterous Baltimore Bishop Summit, whom the bishop display obvious factions and disunity and did not heed Pope Francis call to first make a retreat before making a summit.
3. And the famous Dubia Cardinlas united to Bishops who expresses contradictory views on Magisterial teachings.
A body of bishop has no canonical power and teaching authority apart from the Vicar of Christ,therefore cannot possess a never failing faith.
The body of Bishops is the successor to the other Apostles appointed by Christ. They have the help of the Holy Spirit in teaching and guiding the Church. The body is always led by the Pope; they can never commit schism as a body, so they do have a never failing faith. Individual Bishops and small groups of Bishops can fall away and can sin gravely.
Ron C.
I agree the body of Bishop led by the Pope is guided by the Spirit of Truth it cannot err.
How about the individual Bishop like St.Paul who was not part of Apostolic Succession because Peter or anyone among the Apostle had never lay their hands on St.Paul.
And St.Paul claimed not to be ordain by any men. (Galatians1:1)
What St.Paul seek is unity and seeking the Apostolic Blessings and recognition of his ministry to the Gentiles by the three pillars Peter, James and John, and this three gave their “right hand”. (Galatians2:7-9)
Please correct me If my interpretation is wrong, St.Paul do not have an Apostolic Succession in terms of laying of hands, but he united his ministry to Peter as he recognized his authority as the Vicar of Christ, and Peter, James and John gave him authority to baptize, ordain a priest and consecrate a priest to episcopate.
Is St.Paul a model representation of Ecumenism? Because it appears that St.Paul as an individual Bishop united to Peter and the Church can act infallibly and is led by the Spirit of Truth and share the Dogma Church indefectibility
Paul must have been ordained by a Bishop, so that is sufficient for Apostolic succession. Paul wrote some books of Scripture, and that is separate from the gifts given to the body of Bishops. One need not be a Bishop to write a book of Scripture. An individual Bishops united to Peter is not infallible, but he should be able to avoid apostasy, heresy, and schism if he is obedient to the Magisterium.
Sacred Scriptures stated the narration of Matthias ordination.
Sacred Traditions also had a record who ordained a certain priest to episcopate.
The Church preserved this tradition for the validity of priest or episcopate ordination.
However, in St.Paul case, scriptures and traditions were silent.
For a valid ordination, the Apostle or Bishop must be name or identified, right?
So, can you tell who ordain St.Paul.
Are the teachers and prophets in Acts13:1-3 who laid hands on Saul and Barnabas were ordained Bishop by the Apostles?
We don’t know who ordained Paul, but it is clear from his role stated in Scripture that he must have been a bishop.
Ron C.
Thanks, it just validated my curiosity that really there’s no teaching on who ordain St.Paul.
But, Galatians reveals a lot that St.Paul was not ordain by Peter or anyone among the Apostles, and since his level of missions is far greater in magnitude than all the rest of the Apostles except Peter, there’s no one who will ordain St.Paul other than Jesus Christ Himself. Because if Peter happen to ordain St.Paul then it will contradict St.Paul testimony written in the Letter to Galatians.
St.Paul was ordain by Christ Himself and his anointing was received in Acts13:1-3, to help us realize that all other Pastors or Leaders of other faith and religions can be ordain by God Permissive Will but in the end all this other faith and religion must acknowledge Peter’s primacy and seek the right hand of the Pope Magisterium for united mission in spreading the gospel of Christ.
St.Paul is the model of Ecumenism, and understanding St.Paul way of celebrating Holy Communion is the key to opening the door the Lutheran Rites and other Christian Rites in celebrating the Holy Eucharist, why?
No one can enter the New Paradise unless the faithful embraced a Eucharistic Life.
Cardinal Ratzinger explained that Popes are not necessarily chosen by God. We must not confound “God wants” with “God allows”.
Ratzinger’s comment was off-the-cuff, not his considered theological opinion, as in an article or book of theology, and it was not magisterial. So his comment does not establish that Popes are not chosen by God.
https://ronconte.com/2018/12/06/does-god-choose-the-pope/
Yes, but that comment proves that also the opposite is not Magisterium. It is not mandatory for a Catholic believe that Popes are always chosen by God. There are legit opinions on this field.
This article calls Pope Francis a Marxist:
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/pope-francis-calls-marxist-economic-summit
I would be interested in your refutation of this depiction of Francis’ economic beliefs.