Here is the article and link: Bishop Athanasius Schneider on the Validity of Pope Francis (September 19, 2023).

Bishop Schneider makes some good points, which contradict the positions of many of the accusers of Pope Francis. The first paragraph reads as follows:

“There is no authority to declare or consider an elected and generally accepted Pope as an invalid Pope. The constant practice of the Church makes it evident that even in the case of an invalid election this invalid election will be de facto healed through the general acceptance of the new elected by the overwhelming majority of the cardinals and bishops.”

I agree on both points. The First See is judged by no one but God. That is the ancient and constant teaching of the Church, and it is also current Canon law and was past (1917) Canon law. Vatican I even says that one cannot appeal from the decisions of a Pope to an Ecumenical Council. Therefore, there is no authority which can declare “an elected and generally accepted Pope” to be invalid or an antipope.

The second point is also quite good. It is not as well established as the first point, but has been generally held as the majority theological opinion for a long time. If an election at a papal conclave is flawed, or deeply flawed, or even entirely invalid, the acceptance of the new Pope by the body of Bishops, who are the successors to the Apostles, “heals in the root” the flawed or invalid election.

The most extreme example of this is the heretic and antipope Vigilius, who after the death of the true and valid Pope Silverius (d. 537 AD) became accepted as the true Pope. Then Pope Vigilius renounced his heresies, and did give his approval to the Second Council of Constantinople — with the Bishops gathered there accepting him as Pope and repeatedly seeking his formal approval as Roman Pontiff for their documents. Vigilius was not even elected, and was previously a manifest heretic and literal antipope, and yet he became a true Pope, who by the grace of God renounced all his past heresies.

The Church is indefectible and apostolic, and so the body of Bishops cannot go astray following a false or invalid Pope. But here I depart from the opinion of Bishop Schneider. The same reasoning also means that the body of Bishops cannot go astray following an heretical Pope. Those who claim that the Roman Pontiff Pope Francis is guilty of apostasy, heresy, idolatry, etc. fail to realize that the body of Bishops continues to support Pope Francis, despite knowing what he teaches and what his critics are claiming. The opinion of those who claim that the Pope and almost all Bishops have gone astray is contrary to the dogmas that the Church is indefectible and apostolic. But Schneider’s opinion, that a Pope can be heretical, but can’t be declared invalid or be removed, shows a lack of faith in the indefectibility of the Church, in the charism of truth and never-failing faith given to every Pope, and in the work of the Holy Spirit in the successors of Peter and the other Apostles.

Schnieder: “Even in the case of a heretical pope he will not lose his office automatically and there is no body within the Church to declare him deposed because of heresy. Such actions would come close to a kind of a heresy of conciliarism or episcopalism.”

A Pope cannot lose his office, and no one in the Church can depose him or declare that he is deposed (i.e. automatically or by God). No one has that authority. However, Bishop Schneider errs gravely in considering that a Pope can be heretical.

Now Bishop Schneider mentions the opinions of Saint Robert Bellarmine on heretical Popes. His position is often misstated. See my article on the topic: What Bellarmine Really Said on Heretical Popes. Bellarmine’s clearly stated position was that the Pope can never teach heresy and can never in any way be heretical. He did go on to consider what would happen IF a Pope could and did commit heresy. But the overwhelming evidence from many Church Fathers, Doctors, Saints, and Popes, as documented here , is that the Pope can never teach or commit heresy, due too the charism of truth and never-failing faith.

Schneider: “The pope cannot commit heresy when he speaks ex cathedra, this is a dogma of faith. In his teaching outside of ex cathedra statements, however, he can commit doctrinal ambiguities, errors and even heresies.”

Actually, the dogma is that the ex cathedra teachings of the Pope are free from all error, not only free from heresy. Then the teaching that Popes are preserved from grave error when exercising the Keys of Peter over doctrine and discipline is well-established. So it is NOT TRUE that a Pope, when exercising his authority over doctrine and discipline non-infallibly, can err to any extent. This claim leaves the Church in an untenable position, which Schneider actually goes on to describe quite well. IF a Pope WERE permitted by God to teach heresy, the faithful would be left in a position of opposing the Vicar of Christ, the father and teacher of all Christians, the supreme Pontiff, the Rock on which the Church is founded and the visible Head of the Church, which is the body of Christ.

Schneider: “And since the pope is not identical with the entire Church, the Church is stronger than a singular erring or heretical Pope. In such a case one should respectfully correct him (avoiding purely human anger and disrespectful language), resist him as one would resist a bad father of a family. Yet, the members of a family cannot declare their evil father deposed from the fatherhood. They can correct him, refuse to obey him, separate themselves from him, but they cannot declare him deposed. Good Catholics know the truth and must proclaim it, offer reparation for the errors of an erring Pope. “

Several problems arise from the above statement by Bishop Schneider. First and foremost, the statement assumes that “good Catholics” will be able to discern and avoid heresy, while the Roman Pontiff will not be so able. How will they know that the Pope has erred gravely, even to the extent of heresy? We are all fallen sinners who can err to any extent. We do not have the same help from God that each Pope certainly has. It is presumptuous in the extreme for Schneider and other papal accusers to regard themselves as certainly in the right, when accusing Pope Francis of many different grave errors. How is there no possibility that this group of papal opponents, who have only a few Bishops agreeing with them, are right on every point, and the Pope is gravely wrong? Individual Bishops, other clergy, religious and laity can never speak ex cathedra, and none of us is the Rock on which the Church is founded. None of us has the charism of truth and never-failing faith. None of us teaches and guides the Ark of Salvation through the Apostolic See of Peter — the chief of the Apostles, who “to this day and forever … lives and presides and exercises judgment in his successors the bishops of the Holy Roman See, which he founded and consecrated with his blood” as Vatican I taught.

So this idea is gravely erroneous, which says that the faithful can simply know with certitude that the Pope is a heretic and can therefore, based on that fallible judgment, “resist” the Pope as if he were “a bad father of a family”, and also “refuse to obey him”, then, worse still, “separate themselves from him”. Nothing in the teaching of the Gospels or in the entire history of Church teachings supports such a position toward the Roman Pontiff. To the contrary, to deliberately resist the Pope, refuse to obey him, and separate yourself from him is obstinate severe formal schism. Refusal of submission to the Roman Pontiff is the canonical delict of formal schism, and it is also a grave sin. The penalty is automatic excommunication.

Bishop Athanasius Schneider is proposing that the faithful commit schism toward Pope Francis, and he is clearly stating (based on past public assertions as well) that he himself resists Pope Francis and that he himself refuses to obey the Pope whenever he, in his self-exalting sinful pride, judges that the Pope has erred gravely. Schnieder is also implying that he himself has done what he is recommending to his readers, and has separated himself from Pope Francis, as he judges the Pope to be heretical.

Bishop Athanasius Schneider is publicly declaring himself to be in a state of formal schism, as he has stated refusal of submission to Pope Francis, while accusing the Pope of heresy. Schneider is also sinning gravely by scandalizing the faithful, encouraging them to commit schism as well.

This decision by Schneider and his followers is not defensible with the claim that they have judged the Pope to be a heretic, and so they must resist him, disobey him, and separate themselves from him. Christ himself said that whatever Peter and his successors bind or loose on earth is bound or loosed even in Heaven. This teaching implies that Peter and his successors cannot teach heresy, nor err gravely on doctrine or discipline, since Heaven cannot be bound to grave error. This teaching also condemns all those who separate themselves from any successor of Peter, since it is Christ himself who binds Heaven to the exercise of the Keys of Peter by any Pope.

Christ also taught that Peter and his successors will have a never-failing faith, and will have the role to confirm their brethren, the Bishops, in the faith. This teaching also implies that Popes cannot teach heresy, nor fail in faith by apostasy, heresy, or idolatry (or the like). This teaching further implies that no individual Bishop can judge a Pope and condemn him for alleged heresy, as Bishop Schneider has done, because the Pope alone has the role, authority, and ability from Christ in the Holy Spirit to teach and correct the body of Bishops and therefore the entire flock under the Bishops. Schneider exalts himself above the Roman Pontiff, and above the body of Bishops — who remain faithful to Pope Francis and have never accused him of grave error. Pride goeth before a schism.

The schismatic and heretical Bishop Schneider states: “the pope is not identical with the entire Church, the Church is stronger than a singular erring or heretical Pope.” But he implicitly rejects the teaching that each and every successor of Peter is the Rock on which the Church is founded, and is the visible Head of the Church, and that “Christ and His Vicar constitute one only Head” of the one Church [Pope Pius XII, Mystical Body of Christ 40]. The Church is indefectible and apostolic. Therefore, Pope Francis has not taught or committed heresy. For the body of Bishops continuously supports and follows Pope Francis. If Pope Francis had fallen into heresy (and apostasy and idolatry as some claim!), the Church would have lost Her indispensable characteristics to be indefectible and apostolic — that is IF the successors to the other Apostles as a body had gone astray following an heretical successor to Peter the Apostle. Since the Church can NEVER cease to be apostolic or indefectible, and since the gates of Hell can NEVER prevail over the Church — as Schneider implies has occurred — then Pope Francis cannot be guilty of heresy or any other grave error on doctrine or discipline.

Vatican I taught the following:

2. For no one can be in doubt, indeed it was known in every age that the holy and most blessed Peter, prince and head of the apostles, the pillar of faith and the foundation of the Catholic Church, received the keys of the kingdom from our lord Jesus Christ, the savior and redeemer of the human race, and that to this day and for ever he lives and presides and exercises judgment in his successors the bishops of the Holy Roman See, which he founded and consecrated with his blood [46].

3. Therefore whoever succeeds to the chair of Peter obtains by the institution of Christ himself, the primacy of Peter over the whole Church. So what the truth has ordained stands firm, and blessed Peter perseveres in the rock-like strength he was granted, and does not abandon that guidance of the Church which he once received [47].

4. For this reason it has always been necessary for every Church–that is to say the faithful throughout the world–to be in agreement with the Roman Church because of its more effective leadership. In consequence of being joined, as members to head, with that see, from which the rights of sacred communion flow to all, they will grow together into the structure of a single body [48].

…
The sentence of the Apostolic See (than which there is no higher authority) is not subject to revision by anyone, nor may anyone lawfully pass judgment thereupon [54]. And so they stray from the genuine path of truth who maintain that it is lawful to appeal from the judgments of the Roman pontiffs to an ecumenical council as if this were an authority superior to the Roman Pontiff.”

The papal accusers have violated the above teaching of the First Vatican Council, passing judgment many times against the Roman Pontiff Pope Francis, thereby straying from the genuine path of truth, thereby acting as if they have an authority superior to the Roman Pontiff.

Ronald L Conte Jr