On Being Pope Materially
(De Papatu Materiali)

Father Donald J. Sanborn

Latin-english

Introduction by “Sacerdotium”

The main difficulty met by catholics who refuse Council Vatican II and its reforms concerns papal authority, or to put it in other words, how can one rightly refuse the “new religion“ whereas it is -— at least apparently — proclaimed by supreme authority. Here is the solution Fraternity Saint Pius X offers : the popes of Vatican II are truly popes but you must not obey them when they order to believe what is false or to do what is wrong. This solution — however it can be safely applied to the pope acting as a private person — nevertheless supposes a defection of Church as soon as general laws or universal ordinary magistry — which are infallible thruths — are concerned. To put it simply, a true pope being assisted by the Holy Spirit cannot, in the name of Church, teach us false things or order us to do wrong. Therefore, the only possible solution to preserve the indefectibility of Church is to state that these “popes“ who proclaim and spread the erring faith promoted by Vatican II and -— broadly speaking — the “new religion“ are not invested with papal authority. However, among all the holders of this thesis, some assert that these popes are completely bereft of pontifical dignity, while others maintain they are only partially deprived of it, that is to say formaliter (formally) and not materialiter (materially). It is as early as 1973 that Mgr Guérard des Lauriers brought this second thesis forward for the first time, nevertheless it is still ignored by many and misunderstood by practically all. In this series of articles, the author explains the principles of this thesis so that everybody can understand it better and appreciate it to its real value.