Thank you for this past issue of The Angelus focusing on Pope St. Pius X who was famous for warning us that “Modernism is the synthesis of all heresies.” That leads directly to my question. Bishop Fellay said at last year’s Angelus Press Conference that Pope Francis is a “genuine modernist.” If that is the case, and modernism is a heresy and even the “synthesis of all heresies,” then does that mean that Pope Francis is a heretic or a Catholic or is he somehow both a Catholic and a heretic?
This question of the heretical Pope has been a regular subject among theologians who used to discuss it as a curious question, not unlike the number of angels dancing on the head of a pin. Unfortunately, the theoretical question of the 17th century is becoming an acute issue in our unfortunate age of latent apostasy.
To respond to the question, theologians are divided as to whether one falling into heresy would lose ipso facto the Papacy. The reason against this thesis is that the Church is a visible society, and deposing anyone from his See must be done by a visible and competent authority. In this case, a large enough College of Cardinals would have to declared formally and openly the Pope deposed because of heresy.
Bishop Fellay had very strong words from St. Vincent’s pulpit last year in October when he wondered how long it might be before he would be forced to declare that the present Pope is a real heretic. The Synod on the Family would certainly provide some arguments along such lines if the Pope were to force all priests to offer sacraments to remarried divorcees. But God alone knows the future. In any case, it is our earnest duty to pray for the Holy Father as the children of Fatima requested. May we not think that they might have had an insight of the present crucial dilemma breaking the heart of every Catholic?