Obeying The Pope

[Apotheoun]

I find it interesting when people try to pit one Pope against another Pope. The disciplinary directives of a Pope cannot bind his successors, for it is a principle of canon law that "equal cannot bind equal." Now, this holds for all the disciplinary directives issued by the Holy See. So when one Pope discourages ecumenical activity, which is perfectly within his rights and powers as Supreme Pontiff, while another Pope encourages it, one must accept the directives of the reigning Pontiff as binding in conscience. Do not confuse dogmatic and doctrinal decisions of the Pope, which are irreformable by definition, with disciplinary laws.

As far as it concerns ecumenism two things are to be avoided: (1) the heresy of indifferentism, which holds that one religion is as good as another; and (2) a triumphalism, which holds that the Church must not attempt to bring her errant children back into the fullness of truth that is found only in the Catholic Church, but must constantly condemn those outside the visible body of the Church. Moreover, the manner in which the latter activity is done, is for the supreme authority of the Church to decide, it is not a matter to be decided by the lay faithful. Vatican 1 defined as a dogma of Divine and Catholic faith the universal primacy of jurisdiction of the Roman Pontiff, and so no one is to dissent from his governing directives even in matters that are not de fide, for as the Fathers of the First Vatican Council said, "Wherefore we teach and declare that, by divine ordinance, the Roman Church possesses a pre-eminence of ordinary power over every other Church, and that this jurisdictional power of the Roman Pontiff is both episcopal and immediate. Both clergy and faithful, of whatever rite and dignity, both singly and collectively, are bound to submit to this power by the duty of hierarchical subordination and true obedience, and this not only in matters concerning faith and morals, but also in those which regard the discipline and government of the Church throughout the world." [Vatican 1, Dogmatic Constitution [u]Pastor Aeternus[/u], Chapter 3, no. 2]

Originally posted in the Debate Table Forum: [url="http://phorum.phatmass.com/index.php?showtopic=19523&view=findpost&p=345448"]Sep 7 2004, 04:37 PM[/url]

[phatcatholic]

i'm pinning this

[Cure of Ars]

I added this thread to the reference section.

[Laudate_Dominum]

Sweet! I love phatmass.