The Church, the Roman Pontiff, and the body of Bishops are each and all indefectible. They cannot fail in faith, they cannot err gravely on doctrine or discipline, and they cannot go astray or lead astray.

The body of Bishops is also called the Apostolic College, because the Bishops are the successors to the Apostles. Individually, they can teach or commit heresy. But as a body, they cannot. For Jesus did not choose only one Apostle, Peter, but 12 Apostles, and though Judas Iscariot went astray, the other Apostles did not. As for Peter, once he became Pope, he never failed in faith. His betrayal of Christ was before he was ordained and before he became Roman Pontiff at the Ascension.

{22:32} But I have prayed for you, so that your faith may not fail, and so that you, once converted, may confirm your brothers.”

The never failing faith of Peter and his successors confirms the faith of Peter’s brothers, the other Apostles and their successors. So their faith, as a body, is like his faith as an individual, but only if they remain in communion with and obedient to the Pope.

Thus, the Apostolic College can never teach or commit heresy. It is indefectible.

Faithful licit criticism of the Bishops, then, is limited, just as it is with the Pope. Today, many Catholics unfortunately feel free to criticize, accuse, and condemn the Bishops, as a body, to any extent. But that is contrary to the words and prayer of our Lord. It is also contrary to the indefectibility of the Church. For if the Apostles went astray as a body, leaving only the Roman Pontiff and a few Bishops as faithful, the Church could be said to have defected. The structure of the Church is that the Pope and the body of Bishops lead the faithful to salvation. Since the Church cannot go astray, neither can the Pope individually or the Bishops as a body go astray.

Therefore, these common but harsh criticisms of the body of Bishops must stop. If you consider yourself faithful to Christ, you cannot believe that the body of Bishops, in communion with the Pope, could ever go astray.

“From this it must be clearly understood that Bishops are deprived of the right and power of ruling, if they deliberately secede from Peter and his successors; because, by this secession, they are separated from the foundation on which the whole edifice must rest. They are therefore outside the edifice itself; and for this very reason they are separated from the fold, whose leader is the Chief Pastor; they are exiled from the Kingdom, the keys of which were given by Christ to Peter alone.” Satis Cognitum by Pope Leo XIII

Thus, Bishops like Vigano and Schneider are deprived of the right and power of ruling, and are outside the edifice itself of the Church.

RLCJ