Tag Archives: infallibility

Cardinal Muller’s Claim That Pope Has NO Authority To Change Church Teachings — Is That REALLY The Case?

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by Anura Guruge
on October 2, 2022

Click image to access ‘The Catholic Herald’ article.

Wow! This one is convoluted and much depends on semantics, nuances & interpretations.

At a SUPERFICIAL level one can argue, somewhat persuasively, on both side, BUT it gets tricky when you really start drilling down.

ONE of my initial reactions was: “NO ONE but BUT NO ONE, on earth, has authority over the pope“. Can we all agree on that? As long as he is ensconced within the Vatican State he is unimpeachable, totally powerful, ABOVE THE LAW, untouchable & even infallible in certain scenarios (particularly when it comes to dogma, i.e., basically Church teaching). So, to say the pope doesn’t have the AUTHORITY is confusing. He might NOT, but who can legitimately challenge that? That is the question. Cardinals can spout their own opinions but they have NO POWER. Talk about being impotent. All talk, no trousers. Muller can asset anything in words, BUT he can’t do DIDDLY in terms of action.

So, my first contention is: ‘so, who can refute the pope, meaningfully & LEGALLY, on earth?‘ I don’t think there is anyone who can, BUT PLEASE correct me.

Then there are precedents. Many popes played a pivotal role in defining today’s teaching as to the Trinity! That is pretty basic & we only got to where we are today thanks to the hands-on involvement of a number of popes. Check out the whole ‘filioque‘ controversy. It was popes that made the determination.

Then there is the ‘Assumption of Mary‘. A couple of popes made that real.

Then there is Paul VI, birth control & Humanae vitae. That is pretty fundamental & far reaching Church teaching.

Then we also have papal infallibility. Wow. That absolves popes, in matters of dogma, on possible errors in doctrine! I am really not sure whether Muller got this one even vaguely right.

Tell me what you think. MY initial druthers is that Muller is not 100% correct on this.

U.S. Cardinal Burke’s Questioning Of Pope Francis’ Authority To Restrict The Use Of The Latin Mass Is Pretty Silly!

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by Anura Guruge
on July 21, 2021

Click to ENLARGE. From the ‘National Catholic Register‘.
Click to ENLARGE & read here. Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Papal_infallibility.
Click to ENLARGE & read here. Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Papal_supremacy.

This is my take on it, but I did discuss at length with a couple of others who also happen to know there way around the Catholic Church, its ‘laws’, traditions & practices.

We don’t need to get too technical or pedantic here.

A pope, Francis (or otherwise), has absolute, unilateral, AUTOCRATIC POWER over the Catholic Church in all matters. Period.

It is well understood & acknowledged that a pope cannot be judged, corrected, censored,or disciplined on Earth. Only God has (any) sway over a pope. Period.

A pope cannot be impeached or removed from office.

There are NO councils, courts, parliaments or whatever to hold a pope accountable.

When it comes to matters of the Catholic Church, the pope is SUPREME & can do whatever, whenever. Period.

A pope does not have to have any of his decisions validated, voted upon, endorsed or whatever from anyone else. ‘Pope has spoken, the matter is settled‘. Period.

And all of this BEFORE we even broach upon the thorny issue of Papal Infallibility (above).

So, all I can say is that Burke must be smoking too much incense! His claim holds no water.

In the case of the Latin Mass the pope is NOT even trying to change doctrine. But, let’s say that he was. He can do that — worst case doing it (so called) ex-Cathedra (i.e., from his throne) so that he is infallible! It is good to be the pope. Period.

The pope can change liturgy. Trival. The pope can even do so on-the-fly. John XXIII did this when he removed the offensive phrase ‘Perfidious Jews‘ from the Mass. On-the-fly. John XXIII wanted it removed. Done & dusted. Period.

Burke might be trying to say that some MAY not buy that the pope has the authority.

Well, the pope, unilaterally, just by saying the words, can excommunicate Burke. Snap of his fingers. Poof. Burke becomes a berk. (Smile).

The pope can excommunicate a whole bunch of people.

But, he can’t prevent a schism. That he can’t. Other than that, he can do whatever.

So, maybe what Burke is trying to say, clumsily (as befits another old man), is that those that question the pope authority will have to be schismatic.

The pope has already ‘busted’ Burke at least once. The pope might decide to show him, once & for all, how much power a pope has over Catholics, even U.S. cardinals.