OnePeterFive editor-in-chief T.S. Flanders is continuing his vicious calumny against the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church in his series of articles applying the blasphemous term “pornocracy” to the Church founded by Christ on Peter and his successors. Here is the article: Pope Francis: Worst Pope in History? (Pornocracy, pt. 4) (18 Jan 2024).

The Church is the Body of Christ, with Christ as Her eternal Head and the Holy Spirit as Her soul. “Christ and His Vicar constitute one only Head” of the one Church. And as Vatican I taught:

“The Son of God, redeemer of the human race, our lord Jesus Christ, promised, when about to return to his heavenly Father, that he would be with this Church militant upon earth all days even to the end of the world. Hence never at any time has he ceased to stand by his beloved bride, assisting her when she teaches, blessing her in her labors and bringing her help when she is in danger.”

Therefore, calling the Roman Pontiff with the Cardinals and Bishops who support him and work with him to lead the Church a “pornocracy” is blasphemy against the Holy Spirit and against the Lord Jesus Christ, and is a denial of the doctrine of the indefectibility of the Church. This indefectibility does not assert that the Church can go gravely astray but will eventually correct its course. Rather, indefectibility means that “never at any time” does Jesus cease to stand by the Church, assisting Her when She teaches, blessing Her and helping Her. This assistance is not limited to infallible teachings. For the gates of Hell never prevail over the Church. Never at any time. The contrary is a heresy opposed to the dogma of the indefectibility of the Church.

When Jesus taught and promised this indefectibility, He clearly stated that the founding of the Church on Peter and his successors would be crucial to this indefectibility.

[Matthew]
{7:24} Therefore, everyone who hears these words of mine and does them shall be compared to a wise man, who built his house upon the rock.
{7:25} And the rains descended, and the floods rose up, and the winds blew, and rushed upon that house, but it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock.

{16:18} And I say to you, that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it.
{16:19} And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven. And whatever you shall bind on earth shall be bound, even in heaven. And whatever you shall release on earth shall be released, even in heaven.”

[Luke]
{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.”

So we can never say that the faith of Peter or any of his successors has failed. A Pope can sin gravely in his personal life, and possibly lose his salvation; for he must walk the same path of salvation that he teaches, and is subject to the same judgment. But every Roman Pontiff has the charism of truth and never-failing faith, just as the Church has always taught, just as Vatican I taught. And the indefectibility of the Church, in the work of the Holy Spirit, ensures that neither the Roman Pontiff, nor the body of Bishops teaching with him, will ever go astray or lead astray from the true faith and the true path of salvation. And this indefectibility applies at all times, not merely when the Church teaches infallibly. For the Church is the Ark of Salvation, and it would be absurd to claim that She is only guide aright when infallibility is used, and otherwise — which is most of the time — can be guided to crash on rocks, run aground, or capsize. Instead, Jesus never ceases to assist His Church whenever She teaches, even when She is not teaching infallibly.

Non-infallible teachings of the Roman Pontiff can err, but only to a limited extent, for the sake of the indefectibility of the Church. On the other hand, no such indefectibility applies to the critics of the Pope, who judge everything he says and does by their own fallen sinful minds and hearts.

Now, as T.S. Flanders revealed in the article under consideration here, he has only been a Catholic during the reign of Pope Francis, since he converted from Christian Orthodoxy. And yet he thinks himself fit to judge and accuse Popes and Councils. Pride goeth before schism and heresy. This man has never been a faithful believing and practicing Catholic. He came to us from a schismatic and heretical Church (the Orthodox Christian Churches are in a state of material schism and heresy), and he has never adhered faithfully to Catholic doctrine. He has continually opposed the Roman Pontiff from his first entry into the Catholic Church. He was not raised Catholic and he was not trained in Catholic theology. And now he says that Pope Francis is the worst Pope in history. But he’s the only Pope Flanders has ever known during his short time as a nominal Catholic.

More blasphemy from T.S. Flanders:

“What we have seen is exactly what we might expect if:

“1. The Church is infallible and God will prevent the Pope and the Church authority from dogmatizing heresy or taking away Sacramental grace.

“2. To punish the Church for her sins, God allows the Devil and his fallen angels free reign over the Church without comprising on #1

“So I believe what we see today is the reign of the devil in the Vatican, but only by God’s permission and within His providential power. He has only released Satan in order to punish us, sinners, until we repent.”

Popes can err to a certain extent. And the Church is indefectible, not infallible. The gift of infallibility applies only when the Church decides dogmas on faith or morals, or dogmatic facts. Then indefectibility, the correct term, does not merely prevent the Church from defining heresy as dogma; such a protection would not be sufficient for the gates of Hell to never prevail. Are we to think that the gates of Hell can prevail in every way, except infallible decisions? Such a claim gives the Church over to the gates of Hell most of the time. And so that cannot be the meaning of indefectibility.

Rather, indefectibility means that the Church can never lead astray or go astray, and it is established, just as Jesus said, by the founding of the Church on Peter and his successors as on a Rock. So the papal charism of truth and never-failing faith, in which the Bishops participate as a body with the Pope, means that the Pope will never fail in faith, the Pope will never teach grave error, nor err gravely in decisions of discipline, and that the body of Bishops, when teaching or acting with the Pope, have the same protections.

T.S. Flanders teaches heresy, contrary to the dogma of indefectibility, and blasphemes God when he claims: “To punish the Church for her sins, God allows the Devil and his fallen angels free reign over the Church without comprising on #1”. THE CHURCH IS THE BODY OF CHRIST. God, the most holy Trinity, does not allow Satan and his devils “free reign over the Church”. Such a claim is blasphemy against Christ, whose body is the Church, and against the Holy Spirit, the soul of the Church. Such a claim directly and fully contradicts the dogmas of the indefectibility of the Church and of the papal charism of truth and never-failing faith.

Such a claim also directly rejects the teaching and promise of Christ, stated very clearly by our Lord, that the gates of Hell will never prevail over the Church. Flanders’ claim that God has given Satan and his devil free reign over the Church completely rejects indefectibility. And Flanders in fact has an entire book in which he openly repeatedly claims that the gates of Hell have many times prevailed over the Church. This is abject formal heresy, as Flanders is well aware of the words of Jesus on the gates of Hell, as his denial of the dogma uses the very words of Jesus to deny what Jesus taught and promised.

Flanders asserts that this “free reign” does not compromise #1 (i.e. “The Church is infallible and God will prevent the Pope and the Church authority from dogmatizing heresy or taking away Sacramental grace.”). But that first assertion is a theological mess. Flanders calls the Church infallible, apparently referring only to the exercise of infallibility, and he thereby avoids mentioning the dogma of indefectibility, which he destroys in assertion #2, that the devils have free reign, etc. So a mere statement that this wicked claim that Satan and his devils have free reign over the Church does not comprise the prior assertion does not diminish at all Flanders’ heretical denial of indefectibility.

It also does not diminish his blasphemy in accusing God of permitting Satan and his devils free reign over the Body of Christ, enlivened and guided by the Holy Spirit. And then Flanders continues in the same vein, saying:

Flanders: “So I believe what we see today is the reign of the devil in the Vatican, but only by God’s permission and within His providential power. He has only released Satan in order to punish us, sinners, until we repent.”

Again, Flanders heretical and blasphemous claims are not diminished, but only worsened, by claiming that this is done by God’s permission. As for God’s providential power, Flanders presents this power as either unwilling or unable to keep the Church indefectible. And finally, Flanders claims that God “released Satan” to reign with his devils “in the Vatican” intentionally, as a way for God “to punish us sinners, until we repent.” This claim absolutely and completely destroys the dogma of the indefectibility of Church, the dogma of the papal charism of truth and never-failing faith, the promise of Jesus that the gates of Hell will not prevail over the Church, and is heretical, schismatic, and blasphemous.

T.S. Flanders is a schismatic, because he believes that Satan and his devils reign in the Vatican, and therefore, he certainly is refusing submission to the Roman Pontiff, Pope Francis — as is clearly seen in every many of his articles on OnePeterFive. He is a formal heretic, who knows the dogma of the indefectibility of the Church, that the gates of Hell will not prevail against the Church, and yet obstinately, publicly, repeatedly thoroughly denies this dogma. And his claims against the Church are blasphemous, and the Church is the Body of Christ, with Christ as Her eternal Head, with the Holy Spirit as Her soul, and “Christ and His Vicar constitute one only Head” of the one Church.

Ronald L Conte Jr