On the Papal Deposition of Bishops — Dr John Lamont

Rorate is pleased to publish this detailed study by John Lamont on the question of whether a pope has the authority to depose bishops “at will.” After comparing the two theological positions on papal power (a strong view that sees that pope as absolute monarch and the sole source of authority in the Church, and a moderate view that sees both pope and bishops as having authority from their office), Dr Lamont refutes the strong view from accepted Catholic theological principles. A PDF of this entire essay may be found here.

On the Papal Deposition of Bishops

John R.T. Lamont

José Antonio Ureta recently published an article in OnePeterFive entitled ‘Why a Good Bishop Should Not Ignore but Obey His Unjust Deposition by a Pope’. The article was an attempt to refute Dr. Peter Kwasniewski’s claim (here and here)[1] that a pope does not have the power to simply remove a bishop at will and that a bishop should refuse to go along with an unjust attempt by the pope to remove him from office. Dr. Kwasniewski’s claim was made in the context of reports that Bp. Joseph Strickland of Tyler, Texas, was to be removed from his see, despite the absence of any evidence of his having failed in the exercise of his office, or of any other good reason for removing him. Mr. Ureta argued, against Dr. Kwasniewski, that the pope has the power to legally remove any bishop from his diocese if he so chooses, and hence that a bishop should accept his removal by the pope regardless of whether or not this removal was justified.

The question is a topical one, because on Nov. 11th 2023 Pope Francis announced that Bp. Strickland has been removed from his office as Bishop of Tyler, without giving any explanation for this action. Mr. Ureta, unlike Pope Francis, has provided a theological argument for the Pope having the right to take such an action. This argument needs to be addressed in order to understand whether or not this is the case. Its importance is not limited to the power of the pope to remove bishops; it concerns the fundamental nature of papal power.

"Tradition stands above the pope. The old Mass is as a matter of principle beyond the pope’s authority to prohibit." (Martin Mosebach)

Martin Mosebach

First Things (Excerpts)

 

In Traditionis Custodes, Pope Francis has given a command. He does this at a time when papal authority is unraveling as never before. The Church has long since advanced to an ungovernable stage. But the pope battles on. He abandons his dearest principles—“listening,” “tenderness,” “mercy”—that refuse to judge or give orders. Pope Francis is roused by something that troubles him: the tradition of the Church. ...

“Liturgy is not a toy of popes; it is the heritage of the Church” — Very strong statement on Traditionis Custodes by Bp. Rob Mutsaerts (Den Bosch, Netherlands)

Rob Mutsaerts, Auxiliary Bishop of ‘s-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands, published this strong statement on his blog. The pope has asked frequently for parrhesia, and now he's getting a good dose of it from around the world. Translation prepared for Rorate Caeli.—PAK

An Evil Edict from Pope Francis

Bp. Rob Mutsaerts

Auxiliary Bishop of ‘s-Hertogenbosch

Pope Francis promotes synodality: everyone should be able to talk, everyone should be heard. This was hardly the case with his recently published motu proprio Traditionis Custodes, an ukase [imperial edict] that must put an immediate termination on the traditional Latin Mass. In so doing, Francis puts a big bold line through Summorum Pontificum, Pope Benedict’s motu proprio that gave ample scope to the old Mass.

The fact that Francis here uses the word of power without any consultation indicates that he is losing authority. This was already evident earlier when the German Bishops’ Conference took no notice of the Pope’s advice regarding the synodality process. The same occurred in the United States when Pope Francis called on the Bishops’ Conference not to prepare a document on worthy Communion. The pope must have thought that it would be better [in this case] not to give advice any more, but rather a writ of execution, now that we’re talking about the traditional Mass!

Skandalon: the drama of the history of the papacy

In the passage from Saint Matthew’s Gospel that we have just heard, Peter makes his own confession of faith in Jesus, acknowledging him as Messiah and Son of God. He does so in the name of the other Apostles too. In reply, the Lord reveals to him the mission that he intends to assign to him, that of being the "rock", the visible foundation on which the entire spiritual edifice of the Church is built (cf. Mt 16:16-19). But in what sense is Peter the rock? How is he to exercise this prerogative, which naturally he did not receive for his own sake? The account given by the evangelist Matthew tells us first of all that the acknowledgment of Jesus’ identity made by Simon in the name of the Twelve did not come "through flesh and blood", that is, through his human capacities, but through a particular revelation from God the Father. 

150th Anniversary of the Dogmatic Constitution PASTOR ÆTERNUS (Vatican I): Petrine Primacy, Infallibility, and the Strict Limits of Papal Authority

Exactly 150 years ago, on July 18, 1870, as war and social convulsion were about to ravage France (and as the flight of the French forces in the Papal States to defend their country was about to allow for the Fall of Rome to the armies allied with the House of Savoy), the Fathers of the Vatican Council, under the guidance of Pope Pius IX, approved the last major dogmatic Conciliar document in the history of the Catholic Church -- the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, known by its first words "Pastor aeternus".

This major document concentrated on four aspects of the life of the Church of Rome as Mother and Teacher of the Universal Church: the Apostolic Primacy conferred by Our Lord Jesus Christ on Saint Peter -- a primacy above the other Apostles; the perpetuity of this same Petrine Primacy in the Bishops of Rome, the final See of the Prince of the Apostles; the meaning and latitude of the primatial power of the Apostolic See; and last, but certainly not least, the dogmatic definition of the limits of the infallible teaching authority of the papal Magisterium.

Properly read, Pastor aeternus is not the charter of an absolute monarch, but quite the opposite -- it is the reminder of the very limited teaching authority of the Pope. As the Constitution says in one of its central passages,

For the Holy Spirit was promised to the successors of Peter not so that they might, by his revelation, make known some new doctrine, but that, by his assistance, they might religiously guard and faithfully expound the revelation or deposit of faith transmitted by the apostles.

Celebrating a great anniversary of a great document, we post below the abridged version including its most important parts.

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First Dogmatic Constitution on the Church of Christ

"PASTOR ÆTERNUS"

Pius, bishop, servant of the servants of God, with the approval of the sacred council, for an everlasting record.