I am happy to pray today with the Lutheran community in Rome. May God bless all who work for dialogue and Christian unity.

— Pope Francis (@Pontifex) November 15, 2015

Bro. Peter Dimond

Antipope Francis recently committed three significant heretical acts vis-à-vis Protestants.  These acts constitute additional, powerful examples of what informed and true Catholics already recognize: that Francis is not the pope and that his sect is not the Catholic Church.  I will briefly comment on these acts. 

• First, there’s the tweet shown above.  On Nov. 15, 2015, Francis visited his fellow Protestants at the Evangelical Lutheran church in Rome.  He tweeted about the visit, acknowledging that he was happy “to pray today with the Lutheran community” in the Lutheran church.  Francis’ action of praying with the notoriously heretical and schismatic community (and his statement celebrating it) is the opposite of what the Catholic Church, the popes, and the Apostolic See have taught throughout history (see the papal teaching quoted below).  His tweet is more clear proof that he’s a manifest heretic and an antipope, and that his sect is not the Catholic Church. 

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH’S ACTUAL TEACHING AND PRACTICE, IN OPPOSITION TO FRANCIS’ HERETICAL TWEET

Pope Pius XI, Mortalium Animos (# 10), Jan. 6, 1928: “… this Apostolic See has never allowed its subjects to take part in the assemblies of non-Catholics…”

Pope Pius IX, Neminem vestrum (# 5), Feb. 2, 1854: “We want you to know that those same monks sent Us a splendid profession of Catholic faith and doctrine… They eloquently acknowledged and freely received the regulations and decrees which the popes and the sacred congregations published or would publish – especially those which prohibit communicatio in divinis (communion in holy matters) with schismatics… They acknowledge that they condemn the error of the schismatic Armenians and recognize that they are outside of the Church of Jesus Christ.”

Pope Pius VI, Charitas (# 31-32), April 13, 1791, speaking of priests who went along with the notoriously heretical civil constitution of the clergy in France: “Above all, avoid and condemn the sacrilegious intruders… do not hold communion with them especially in divine worship.”

Pope Pius IX, Graves ac diuturnae (# 4), March 23, 1875, referring to ‘Old Catholics’: “They [the faithful] should totally shun their religious celebrations, their buildings, and their chairs of pestilence which they have with impunity established to transmit the sacred teachings.  They should shun their writings and all contact with them.  They should not have any dealings or meetings with usurping priests and apostates from the faith who dare to exercise the duties of an ecclesiastical minister without possessing a legitimate mission or any jurisdiction.”

FRANCIS ON WHETHER LUTHERANS AND CATHOLICS MAY “PARTICIPATE TOGETHER IN COMMUNION”

• Second, during the heretical joint prayer session in the Protestant church, a woman asked Antipope Francis whether Lutherans and Catholics may “participate together in Communion.”  Keep in mind that Lutherans don’t even have a valid Eucharist or a valid priesthood, and they reject transubstantiation.  The pathetic Protestant antipope was utterly unable to answer the question.  His nonsensical response (reported by Rocco Palmo of Whispers in the Loggia blog) essentially amounted to the following: 1) That he’s not competent to answer the question, judge or offer an opinion on the matter (even though he claims to be the pope), which constitutes another unwitting acknowledgement that he doesn’t occupy the Chair of Peter; and 2) That each person must decide for himself whether Lutherans and Catholics may “participate in Communion together.”  Francis’ failure to proclaim the truth in such a context (i.e. when directly asked about the issue) constitutes heresy by omission.  It is tantamount to endorsing the position that Lutherans and Catholics may “participate together in Communion.”  The situation is analogous to the Arian Crisis.  At that time some Arian heretics were asked to condemn a heretical Arian creed, but refused to do so.  Even if they didn’t endorse the Arian creed explicitly, by refusing to condemn the Arian creed when directly asked to do so, they committed heresy by omission.  Their omission was tantamount to an endorsement of the Arian heresy.  According to Catholic principles, Francis’ failure to proclaim Catholic teaching when directly asked about whether Lutherans and Catholics may “participate together in Communion” is tantamount to an endorsement of the heretical practice. 

FRANCIS PROCLAIMS THAT “ALL THE BAPTIZED ARE MEMBERS OF THE SAME BODY OF CHRIST”!

• Third, and this is the most significant heretical act of the bunch, in a Nov. 4, 2015, message to the “Global Christian Forum Consultation” (the text of which is available on the Vatican’s website), Francis again repeated the condemned heresy that non-Catholics, Protestants, schismatics, etc. have martyrs.  As we’ve shown, that’s a denial of the solemn teaching of Pope Eugene IV at the Council of Florence, among other things.  Francis has taught that heresy approximately 30 different times.  Francis’ persistent denial of Catholic dogma on that matter by itself infallibly demonstrates that he’s a manifest heretic and not the pope.  But Francis didn’t stop with the “non-Catholics are martyrs” heresy.  This time he made explicit the heresy that underlies it.  He stated: “May the martyrs of today, belonging to many Christian traditions, help us to understand that all the baptized are members of the same Body of Christ, his Church (cf. I Cor 12:12-30).” 

Francis’ proclamation that “all the baptized are members of the same Body of Christ” is a massive heresy.  It denies dozens of magisterial pronouncements.  It repudiates the entire history of Catholic teaching on the effects of heresy and schism.  It denies Vatican I’s dogmatic teaching on the Papacy as the principle of unity in the Body of Christ.  It denies the dogma that anyone who departs from the Papacy, or rejects Catholic teaching, is expelled from the Body of Christ, etc.  You get the idea.  I could quote many texts to refute and condemn Francis’ huge heresy, but to save space I will only quote four.

Pope Pius VI, Charitas (# 32), April 13, 1791: “Finally, in one word, stay close to Us.  For no one can be in the Church of Christ without being in unity with its visible head and founded on the See of Peter.”

Pope Pius IX, Amantissimus (# 3), April 8, 1862: “There are other, almost countless, proofs drawn from the most trustworthy witnesses which clearly and openly testify with great faith, exactitude, respect and obedience that all who want to belong to the true and only Church of Christ must honor and obey this Apostolic See and the Roman Pontiff.”

Pope Pius XI, Mortalium Animos (# 11), Jan. 6, 1928: “Furthermore, in this one Church of Christ no man can be or remain who does not accept, recognize and obey the authority and supremacy of Peter and his legitimate successors.”

Pope Pius XII, Mystici Corporis Christi (# 23), June 29, 1943: “For not every offense, although it may be a grave evil, is such as by its very own nature to sever a man from the Body of the Church, as does schism or heresy or apostasy.”

In case you haven’t figured it out yet, Antipope Francis is a joke.  Those who continue to consider that manifest heretic to be the pope, in the face of the facts, are also a joke.