Why this Catholic priest does not think Pope Francis is the true pope, and why he maintains that Pope Benedict really is the true pope. A theological essay - "One World Religion".

The following article was sent to me by a good Catholic priest. He has authored many books and is an inside expert on ecclesiastical masonry. He is Father Paul Kramer.

I have to say that I have never felt so confused by the current 'teachings' coming from the Vatican - I have to wonder - has there been a Vatican 'takeover'? I suppose it's possible. I don't know anymore. 

Here it is unedited.

ONE WORLD RELIGION

Pope St. Pius X warned about the coming One World Religion without dogmas in Notre Charge Apostolique:

  "l’établissement d’une Église universelle qui n’aura ni dogmes, ni hiérarchie, ni règle pour l’esprit, ni frein pour les passions et qui, sous prétexte de liberté et de dignité humaine, ramènerait dans le monde, si elle pouvait triompher, le règne légal de la ruse et de la force, et l’oppression des faibles, de ceux qui souffrent et qui travaillent."

Let's wait and see whether this is a false alarm or not -- THE ONE WORLD RELIGION  IS ABOUT TO BE INAUGURATED LATER THIS MONTH. Let's wait and see whether this is a false alarm or not (It's not a question of 'if' but 'when') If it's not a false alarm, then . . .

"Only She can help you" - Our Lady of Fatima

Last 1 June, "Pope" Francis blasphemously professed divine attributes to the pagan goddess, "Mother Earth". He is a heathen pantheist.

"We all like mother Earth, because it is she who gave us life and protects us" - Jorge "Francis" Bergoglio

JORGE BERGOGLIO (a.k.a. "Pope" Francis) -- PANDEIST PAGAN:

Bergoglio is an infidel. He is a pandeist who does not believe in the transcendent God and Creator of Catholicism, but in the immanent 'divine principle' of Paganism, the life giving world soul (anima mundi) within the universe. His creed is remarkably like a synthesis of the belief systems of Lord Shaftsbury, Friedrich Schleiermacher,  Benedict Spinoza, Auguste Compte, and Pierre Teilhard de Chardin. He says atheists can be saved (no need for faith in God), he says the souls of the damned do not suffer eternal punishment. The damned souls, according to Bergoglio, will be annihilated. His doctrine on marriage is entirely circumscribed by Naturalism, denying the supernatural sacramentality of Holy Matrimony.

    Here is the link to the video where he says Mother Earth gave us life, and that it is she who protects us.

https://youtu.be/EOnH-NmkMv0

Francis is a PAGAN: 

"A noi, a tutti, piace la madre Terra, perché è quella che ci ha dato la vita e ci custodisce; direi anche la sorella Terra, che ci accompagna nel nostro cammino dell’esistenza." (http://m.vatican.va/content/francescomobile/it/speeches/2016/june/documents/papa-francesco_20160601_institute-of-jainology.html)

"We all like mother Earth, because it is she who gave us life and protects us" - Jorge "Francis" Bergoglio

     It is precisely this notion of the EARTH as the giver of life and provident  protector of life which conceives of "God" not as a transcendent,  infinitelly and eternally perfect Supreme Being; but as a merely immanent demiurge; a "divine" life giving principle which constitutes the world as the womb that gives life to all things. 

     In his remarkably short but concentrared work, The Present Crisis of the Holy See (1861), Cardinal Henry Edward Manning describes the continuous unfolding of the "mystery of iniquity", outlining the development of the spirit of Antichtist, which is the denial of the mystery of the Incarnation of the Son of God; replacing it with the pantheistic Incarnationalism of "God" as "the living soul of the world". It is this pagan Incarnationalism which conceives of "God" as "Mother Earth" -- the earth as the womb from which all life is generated. It is this  pagan and pantheistic religion, which Manning says is the embodiment of the spirit of Antichrist, which Jorge Bergoglio professed last 1 June.

     As Christians we profess that it is GOD -- the GOD who CREATED ALL THINGS VISIBLE AND INVISIBLE who gave us life -- NOT "MOTHER EARTH", as the pagan Francis says. It is because GOD created us and gives life to us, that we profess Him DOMINUM ET VIVIFICANTEM -- "THE LORD AND GIVER OF LIFE". "Mother Earth" does not give us life, but the GOD who became incarnate, so that we may "have life, and have it more abundantly" (John 10:10). It was GOD who formed man from the lifeless slime of the earth, and breathed into him the breath of life living soul and man became a living soul: 《formavit igitur Dominus Deus hominem de limo terrae et inspiravit in faciem eius spiraculum vitae et factus est homo in animam viventem》-Gen. 2:7

     It is precisely our profession of the one true God, Creator of heaven and earth, that distinguishes us from the pagans; and it was that profession of God Almighty that distinguished Melchisedech from his pagan Caananite countrymen:  

"But Melchisedech the king of Salem, bringing forth bread and wine, for he was the priest of the most high God, 

Blessed him, and said: Blessed be Abram by the most high God, who created heaven and earth. (Genesis 14:18 - 19) 

Ps. 148:5 - "laudent nomen Domini quia ipse dixit et facta sunt ipse mandavit et creata sunt"

Ps. 32:9 - "ipse dixit et facta sunt ipse mandavit et creata sunt"

Judith 16:17 - "tibi serviat omnis creatura tua quia dixisti et facta sunt misisti spiritum tuum et creata sunt et non est qui resistat voci tuae".

JORGE BERGOGLIO'S RELIGION --FREEMASONRY (NATURALISM, RATIONALISM, PANDEISM)

     Bergoglio teaches that even those without faith, which is to say, infidels, can be saved -- and that there is no need to obey God's commandments. Obedience to one's own faithless conscience suffices for salvation, according to Bergoglio. Divine Revelation teaches there is no justification or salvation without faith, and that the divine commandments must be obeyed: "Tu mandásti  mandáta tua custodíri nimis"; and, "maledicti qui declinant a mandatis tuis" (Ps. 118); " Convertántur peccatóres in inférnum, omnes Gentes quæ obliviscúntur Deum" (Ps. 9), and, "sic viae omnium qui obliviscuntur Deum et spes hypocritae peribit" (Iob. 8:13).

     The dogmatic teaching of the Council of Trent, the explicit teaching of Scripture, and the universal and perpetual magisterium all teach the diametrical opposite:

"When we say that faith is necessary for the remission of sins, we mean to speak of the Catholic faith, not heretical faith. Without the habit of this faith, no man is justified." (St. Alphonsus Liguori, An Exposition and Defense of All the Points of Faith Discussed and Defined by the Council of Trent)

MAKE NO MISTAKE -- BERGOGLIO IS A FAITHLESS APOSTATE

At the end of the synod, Bergoglio declared in yet another interview with Eugenio Scalfari:

"This is the bottom line result, the de facto appraisals are entrusted to the confessors, but at the end of faster or slower paths, all the divorced who ask will be admitted.” 

These are the words of Fr. Bergoglio: "ALL THE DIVORCED WHO ASK [for Holy Communion] WILL BE ADMITTED." (http://fatima.org/perspectives/sd/perspective798.asp)

What utter contempt for God's law. Bergoglio does not believe in Christ's doctrine on marriage -- Jorge Bergoglio is an infidel -- a faithless heathen who openly denies the most basic dogmas and moral teachings of the Church. He is not a member of the Catholic Church, nor its pope.

"First of all, you ask if the God of the Christians forgives those who do not believe and do not seek faith. 

Given that—and this is fundamental—God's mercy has no limits . . . the issue for those who do not believe in God is in obeying their own conscience. Sin, even for those who have no faith, exists when people disobey their conscience."

The key words are: "those who do not believe and do not seek faith." Does God forgive them? Bergoglio says, "God's mercy has no limits . . . the issue for those who do not believe in God is obeying their own conscience" (!!!) and:

"The goodness or the  wickedness of our behavior depends on this decision"

Note also the moral relativism: "listening and obeying it [conscience], means deciding about what is perceived to be good or evil"

Bergoglio states with unmistakable clarity that one with no faith at all obtains forgiveness from God by obeying his conscience: "deciding about what is perceived to be good or to be evil." 
For Bergoglio, the conscience is autonomous: the "Thou shalt" and "Thou shalt not" commandments are nullified -- human dignity (according to Bergoglio's Masonic creed) demands that the human person decide for himself what is right or wrong, without the tyranny of "clericalism" dictating to man's conscience, "Thou shalt not!"

Bergoglio's economy of salvation dispenses entirely with any need for faith -- faith is utterly superfluous. Salvation depends exclusively on following one's own autonomous conscience; and absolutely no one may dictate to that conscience by claiming to teach in God's name with divine authotity.

This is Bergoglio's religion. It is as far removed from Christianity as heaven is from hell. Bergoglio's religion is not Catholicism -- it is Masonism in its purest form. His creed is essentially identical to that of the godless Enlightenment freethinker, Lord Shaftesbury (1671 - 1713): " The articles of Shaftesbury's religious creed were few and simple, but these he entertained with a conviction amounting to enthusiasm. They may briefly be summed up as a belief in one God whose most characteristic attribute is universal benevolence, in the moral government of the universe, and in a future state of man making up for the imperfections and repairing the inequalities of the present life." AH! The Fatherhood of God and the Brotherhood of Man. (cf. Wikipedia)
Shaftesbury's moral doctrine is that of the "Moral Sense", of which the two most basic principles are:

"1 that the distinction between right and wrong is part of the constitution of human nature; 2. that morality stands apart from theology, and the moral qualities of actions are determined apart from the arbitrary will of God."

Fr. Cornelio Fabro cites the verbatim quotation (Introduzione all"ateismo moderno; English title, God in Exile. Modern Atheism) in which Shaftesbury declares that religion does not consist in believing tenets of revelation, but in morality. His religion was essentially Deism and Rationalism. 
(cf.- http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/shaftesbury/#8)

Lest anyone think Scalfari fabricated the above Beegoglio quotation, here's a a parallel passage in Bergoglio's sermon:

Francesco, il capo della Chiesa Cattolica Romana ha affermato che anche gli atei vanno in paradiso. Pochi giorni fa infatti, ha raccontato la storia di un parrocchiano Cattolico che chiese ad un prete se anche gli atei erano stati salvati da Gesù, ed ha detto:

‘Il Signore ci ha creati a Sua immagine e somiglianza, e noi siamo l’immagine del Signore, ed Egli fa del bene e tutti noi abbiamo questo comandamento nel cuore: fai il bene e non fare il male. Tutti noi. ‘Ma, Padre, questo non è Cattolico! Non può fare il bene’. Sì, può farlo …. ‘Il Signore ha redento tutti noi, tutti noi, con il Sangue di Cristo: tutti noi, non solo Cattolici. Tutti! ‘Padre, e gli atei?’ Anche gli atei. Tutti!’ …. Dobbiamo incontrarci facendo il bene. ‘Ma, Padre, io non credo, sono un ateo!’ Ma fai il bene: noi ci incontreremo là’ [in paradiso].

Ecco le parole in inglese così come sono state pubblicate dall’Huffington Post:

“The Lord created us in His image and likeness, and we are the image of the Lord, and He does good and all of us have this commandment at heart: do good and do not do evil. All of us. ‘But, Father, this is not Catholic! He cannot do good.’ Yes, he can… “The Lord has redeemed all of us, all of us, with the Blood of Christ: all of us, not just Catholics. Everyone! ‘Father, the atheists?’ Even the atheists. Everyone!”.. We must meet one another doing good. ‘But I don’t believe, Father, I am an atheist!’ But do good: we will meet one another there.”

http://giacintobutindaro.org/2013/05/26/secondo-papa-francesco-anche-gli-atei-vanno-in-paradiso/

Bergoglio in, Heaven and Earth:

"As I am a believer, I know that these riches are a gift from God. I also know that the other person, the atheist, does not know that. I do not approach the relationship in order to proselytize, or convert the atheist; I respect him and I show myself as I am. Where there is knowledge, there begins to appear esteem, affection, and friendship. I do not have any type of reluctance, nor would I say that his life is condemned, because I am convinced that I do not have the right to make a judgment about the honesty of that person; even less, if he shows me those human virtues that exalt others and do me good."

Jorge "Francis" Bergoglio is most cerrainly an infidel, without the slightest doubt:

I can say with absolute certitude that Bergoglio is a formal heretic on the basis of the considerations that it is impossible that he is inculpable for denying the most basic revealed truth of the necessity of faith for salvation, because that pertains to the Natural Law which is written in the heart (Rom. 2:15): "Certum est hominem teneri ex lege naturali ad Deum per Fidem, Spem et Charitatem se convertere, et ideo elicere earum virtutum actus"  (St. Alphonsus M. De Liguori, Opera Moralia, Lib. II, Tract. I, De Præcepto Fidei. cap. II) - and therefore there is besides the patent matter of heresy the inexcusable form of the sin of heresy, which puts Jorge Bergoglio outside of communion with the Catholic Church:  “Hæresis est error intellectus, et pertinax contra Fidem, in eo qui Fidem sucepit. ... Unde patet, ad Hæresim, ut et Apostasiam, duo requiri, 1. Judicium erroneum, quod est ejus quasi materiale. 2. Pertinaciam; quae est quasi formale. Porro pertinaciter errare non est hic acriter, et mordicus suum errorem tueri; sed est eum retinere, postquam contrarium est sufficienter propositum: sive quando scit contrarium teneri a reliqua universali Christi in terris Ecclesia, cui suum iudicium præferat” – St. Alphonsus M. De Liguori, Lib. II. Tract. I. De præcepto Fidei. Dubium III.
     Since this matter pertains to the Natural Law, it is patent and certain that both of the conditions for matter and form are present in Bergoglio's denial of the most fundamental principle upon which all religion is based and hinges on, since in matters of natural law, "whoever shall have sinned without the law shall perish without the law". (Rom. 2:12).

JORGE BERGOGLIO IS THE SPEARHEAD OF THE GREAT APOSTASY

As Cardinal Ciappi wrote on the Third Secret of Fatima, "[T]he great apostasy in the Church will begin at the top." The collect for the XVIIth Sunday After Pentecost implores God to protect His faithful from the diabolical poison (the false opinions being spewed daily by Jorge Bergoglio and his Mason occupied Vatican), so they may avoid this contagion and follow the divine truths perpetually taught by the Catholic Church with a pure mind:

Orémus
Da, quaesumus, Domine, populo tuo diabolica vitare contagia: et te solum Deum pura mente sectari.
Per Dóminum . . .

     Bergoglio's deadly poison, is faithlessness, which produces the death of the soul. The first Great Commandment is this: "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind." (Mt.22:37) This commandment unconditionally demands that we believe in God, believe his revelation, and obey His precepts. "This is the greatest and the first commandment." (v. 38) This is the basis of the Second Commandment, "And the second is like to this: Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself." (v. 39) The Second hinges directly from the first; since, without the need to believe, love, and obey God, there cannot exist an obligation to love one's neighbor or oneself. We are bound absolutely by Divine Law to observe these commandments, because God has commanded us to obey them; and not because we are convinced in our own mind that they are correct. 
     To believe God and to obey Him is the basis of all religion, which we must do in order to be saved: "On these two commandments dependeth the whole law and the prophets." (v. 40) If we refuse to believe in God, we are damned as infidels; and if we refuse to believe what He reveals, we are likewise damned as infidels: "he that believeth not shall be condemned." (Mk. 16:16)
    Bergoglio says he believes in God, and in Jesus Christ, but he explicitly rejects His teaching: " You ask me if the God of the Christians forgives those who don't believe and who don't seek the faith." Bergoglio's reply: "The issue for those who do not believe in God is to obey their conscience. Sin, even for those who have no faith, exists when people disobey their conscience." (!) (Michael Day (11 September 2013)."Pope Francis assures atheists: You don't have to believe in God to go to heaven". London: The Independent.) Thus, his remark about the redemption of atheists hinges on this perverse principle -- " [God] has redeemed all of us, all of us, with the Blood of Christ: all of us, not just Catholics. Everyone! ... Even the atheists, Everyone!” ( David Gibson (May 22, 2013). "Pope Francis: God redeemed everyone, ‘not just Catholics’". The Washington Post.)
     Hence, it is manifestly evident that Jorge Bergoglio is not a Christian at all, but an apostate and infidel. The incontrovertable proof consists in the fact that Bergoglio denies the very first principle and basis of all religion -- BELIEF, and he explicitly opposes, contradicts, and rejects the teaching of Christ on this most fundamental point which is the basis of all religion. Bergoglio preaches a false religion which does not require faith for salvation, but explicitly professes the opinion that men can be saved even if they don't believe in God. Thus, when Bergoglio says that all are redeemed, "even atheists" -- the clear and indisputable context of his words manifests plainly that he intends the term "redeemed" to be understood in the sense that it is used in the liturgy -- thus meaning "æterna redemptio" -- "eternal redemption" which is equivalent to "salus æterna" or "eternal salvation" -- thus, the term 'redemption' is used and understood in the cited passage by Bergoglio with the same meaning synonymous with 'salvation' as it is used in the Roman Canon: pro redemptione animarum suarum, pro spe salutis et incolumitatis suæ.
     Thus, Bergoglio, in addition to denying the natural law, flatly rejects the authority of the Revealing God by denying the most fundamental teaching of the entire Scripture and Tradition of both testaments. Infidelity is the "maximun omnium peccatorum", as St. Thomas explains. Hence, sin, for people who have no faith, is first and foremost the sin of unbelief, regardless of whether they obey their perverted conscience or not. One who denies the necessity to assent to divine revelation or the divine truths that are known by reason explicitly rejects the authority of the revealing God. Bergoglio is a manifest apostate and infidel -- and therefore is not a member of the Catholic Church, nor its visible head on earth.*
     Bergoglio's religion is a different religion than the Catholic religion, because his God is not the transcendent Catholic God, but the immanent "god" of Teilhard de Chardin and the Freemasons: "I believe in God - not in a Catholic God; there is no Catholic God." This is what he meant when he said, "God does not exist; do not be shocked" -- he's saying he believes in a god that is not the God of Christians as God and His attributes are understood by the perpetual tradition of Catholic theology and dogma.
    It is not mere gibberish when he says, " There is the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, they are persons, they are not some vague idea in the clouds ... This God spray does not exist! The three persons exist!" Jorge Bergoglio has denied the transcendent Most High God who reveals infallible dogmas and commandments (Whom he reduces to the status of a "vague idea in the clouds"; a "God spray" which "does not exist"); and has replaced Him with a "god" who is "persons" whose revelation is received not by supernatural means, but in one's conscious experience: His religion is the Enlightenment "religion" of revelation experienced in one's heart -- of an immanent Deity which reveals itself in natural human experience -- the "Mother Earth" he professed on 2 June 2016, as the one who "gave us life and protects us". Thus, the absolute primacy of one's own conscience rather than the Commandments of God. Bergoglio's religion is a pandeistic form of Gnosticism,  expressed in terms of the perfidious "liberal theology" which had sprung forth from the faithless Enlightenment in the doctrine of Friedrich Schleiermacher, and his moral doctrine likewise is the vague Enlightenment belief in the "Moral Sense", as professed by the infidel Lord Shaftsbury.
     There cannot be salvation by means of the works of obeying one's conscience alone without supernatural faith in God (That is the heresy of Pelagianism.), since justification cannot be accomplished by mere human works without the sanctification of justifying grace which is received by faith and not works: "For we account a man to be justified by faith, without the works of the law." Hence, one cannot parttake of redemption without faith: " But without faith it is impossible to please God. For he that cometh to God, must believe that he is, and is a rewarder to them that seek him." (Heb. 11:6) According to Bergoglio there can be redemption without faith. According to Divine Revelation, there cannot be redemption without faith. Bergoglio does not believe the Divine Revelation -- he does not believe God who speaks in Revelation. Thus, Jorge Bergoglio is an infidel -- he is not a Catholic. To be a Catholic, one must profess the FAITH of the Church:
    

St. Vincent of Lerins, Commonitory, Ch. 2:

" [6.] Moreover, in the Catholic Church itself, all possible care must be taken, that we hold that faith which has been believed everywhere, always, by all. For that is truly and in the strictestsense Catholic which, as the name itself and the reason of the thing declare, comprehends all universally. This rule we shall observe if we follow universality, antiquity, consent. We shall follow universality if we confess that one faith to be true, which the whole Church throughout the world confesses; antiquity, if we in no wise depart from those interpretations which it is manifest were notoriously held by our holy ancestors and fathers; consent, in like manner, if in antiquity itself we adhere to the consentient definitions and determinations of all, or at the least of almost all priests and doctors."

Ch. 3:

"7.] What then will a Catholic Christian do, if a small portion of the Church have cut itself off from thecommunion of the universal faith? What, surely, but prefer the soundness of the whole body to the unsoundness of a pestilent and corrupt member? What, if some novel contagion seek to infect not merely an insignificant portion of the Church, but the whole? Then it will be his care to cleave to antiquity, which at this day cannot possibly be seduced by anyfraud of novelty.

[8.] But what, if in antiquity itself there be found error on the part of two or three men, or at any rate of a city or even of a province? Then it will be his care by all means, to prefer the decrees, if such there be, of an ancient General Council to the rashness andignorance of a few. But what, if some error should spring up on which no such decree is found to bear? Then he must collate and consult and interrogate the opinions of the ancients, of those, namely, who, though living in various times and places, yet continuing in the communion and faith of the one Catholic Church, stand forth acknowledged and approved authorities: and whatsoever he shall ascertain to have been held, written, taught, not by one or two of these only, but by all, equally, with oneconsent, openly, frequently, persistently, that he must understand that he himself also is to believe without any doubt or hesitation."

Ch. 4:

" [10.] So also when the Arian poison had infected not an insignificant portion of the Church but almost the whole world, so that a sort of blindness had fallen upon almost all the bishops of the Latin tongue, circumvented partly by force partly by fraud, and was preventing them from seeing what was most expedient to be done in the midst of so much confusion, then whoever was a true lover and worshipper of Christ, preferring the ancient belief to the novel misbelief, escaped the pestilent infection."

http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/3506.htm

* The only valid pope is Benedict XVI, whose renunciation has been irrefutably demonstrated to be canonically defective, and therefore null & void.

---------------------

If cohabitation were to be considered a valid marriage, then there would be no need for sacramental marriage, since the cohabitation would fulfill the law of God -- which is heresy. Bergoglio's idea of marriage, specifically the idea that monogamous cohabitation constitutes a valid Christian marriage directly opposes the supernatural sacramentality of Holy Matrimony, and is rooted in Masonic naturalism. That is certainly no surprise, since Bergoglio's religious belief system is totally circumscribed by Masonic naturalism.

POPE BENEDICT DID NOT RESIGN THE PAPAL OFFICE, BUT ONLY RENOUNCED THE ACTIVE MINISTRY OF THE OFFICE

In order to understand the precise scope and extent of Benedict XVI's "renunciation" (not "resignation" or "abdication"), one must focus on his words which explain exactly what he renounced:

"Qui permettetemi di tornare ancora una volta al 19 aprile 2005. La gravità della decisione è stata proprio anche nel fatto che da quel momento in poi ero impegnato sempre e per sempre dal Signore. Sempre – chi assume il ministero petrino non ha più alcuna privacy. Appartiene sempre e totalmente a tutti, a tutta la Chiesa. Alla sua vita viene, per così dire, totalmente tolta la dimensione privata." ... " Il “sempre” è anche un “per sempre” - non c’è più un ritornare nel privato. La mia decisione di rinunciare all’esercizio attivo del ministero, non revoca questo."

"Here, allow me to go back once again to 19 April 2005. The real gravity of the decision was also due to the fact that from that moment on I was engaged always and forever by the Lord. Always – anyone who accepts the Petrine ministry no longer has any privacy. He belongs always and completely to everyone, to the whole Church. In a manner of speaking, the private dimension of his life is completely eliminated." ... "The 'always' is also a "for ever" – there can no longer be a return to the private sphere. My decision to renounce the active exercise of the ministry does not revoke this."

Here Benedict XVI states explicitly that the gravity his decision to accept the papacy consisted in the fact that he was thereby engaged in a committment, received from Christ, which is "for always", and his "decision to renounce the active exercise of the ministry does not revoke this." Thus, Benedict did not renounce the Petrine office or its ministry, but only the active exercise of the ministry. He then goes on to say that he will no longer wield the power of office, but will remain "within the enclosure of St. Peter": " Non porto più la potestà dell’officio per il governo della Chiesa, ma nel servizio della preghiera resto, per così dire, nel recinto di san Pietro. San Benedetto, il cui nome porto da Papa, mi sarà di grande esempio in questo. Egli ci ha mostrato la via per una vita, che, attiva o passiva, appartiene totalmente all’opera di Dio." ("I no longer bear the power of office for the governance of the Church, but in the service of prayer I remain, so to speak, in the enclosure of Saint Peter. Saint Benedict, whose name I bear as Pope, will be a great example for me in this. He showed us the way for a life which, whether active or passive, is completely given over to the work of God.")  
    Hence, the intention expressed by Pope Benedict is to remain in the Petrine office and retain the passive aspect of its official service (munus), i.e. "the service of prayer"; and to hand over the active aspect of the munus, i.e. exercise of governance, to a successor, who will effectively fulfill the function of a coadjutor with power of jurisdiction. Thus, Benedict's clearly expressed intention was not to abdicate the office, but only to vacate the cathedra in the qualified sense of handing the seat of power of governance to one who will succeed him in the active governance, but not abdicating from the office itself. This solves the apparent mystery and explains why Benedict XVI refused to revert to being Cardinal Ratzinger; and why he retains his papal coat of arms and papal attire.
   In his Declaration of Feb. 11, 2013, Pope Benedict states as the reason for his decision his waning energy and consequent inability to administer the official duties of the papacy due to advanced age: Conscientia mea iterum atque iterum coram Deo explorata ad cognitionem certam perveni vires meas ingravescente aetate non iam aptas esse ad munus Petrinum aeque administrandum.
   However, he states his awareness of the spiritual nature of the official service, the munus of the petrine office; namely, it is not merely active and verbal, but is to be fulfilled to no lesser degree by praying and suffering:  Bene conscius sum hoc munus secundum suam essentiam spiritualem non solum agendo et loquendo exsequi debere, sed non minus patiendo et orando. It is this passive function of the office that he expressly stated was his intention to retain in his above cited discourse of 27 Feb. 2013.
     It was only the active service, the execution of the ministery regarding grave affairs of the Church and proclaiming the gospel, which he said he could no longer adequately perform: Attamen in mundo nostri temporis rapidis mutationibus subiecto et quaestionibus magni ponderis pro vita fidei perturbato ad navem Sancti Petri gubernandam et ad annuntiandum Evangelium etiam vigor quidam corporis et animae necessarius est, qui ultimis mensibus in me modo tali minuitur, ut incapacitatem meam ad ministerium mihi commissum bene administrandum agnoscere debeam.
   Therefore, in the next sentence he declares his intention to renounce that ministry:  Quapropter bene conscius ponderis huius actus plena libertate declaro me ministerio Episcopi Romae, Successoris Sancti Petri, mihi per manus Cardinalium die 19 aprilis MMV commisso renuntiare ita ut a die 28 februarii MMXIII, hora 20, sedes Romae, sedes Sancti Petri vacet et Conclave ad eligendum novum Summum Pontificem ab his quibus competit convocandum esse. As the eminent canonist Stefano Violi (quoted below) says, Benedict XVI did not resign the papal office, but only its administration. Since the Petrine office is indivisible (as Domenico Gravina OP explained ca. 1610), a partial act of renunciation is null and void due to defect of intention, and therefore does not suffice to vacate the Chair of Peter.
     One notices the corrected Latin in this Vatican website version of the Declaratio. In the official document the word "commissum" was used, and not "commisso" as you can see in the sentence. This is one of two glaring grammatical errors in the document that, according to the canonical custom which remains in force, renders the juridical act null & void. The 1983 Code of Canon Law states explicitly that where there is no  statute or custom ruling on some matter in the Code, the jurisprudence of the Roman Curia is to be followed*. The precedents go back to Pope St. Gregory VII, as I have explained in previous posts.
    However, leaving aside the question of the Latin errors; the far more weighty consideration of the pope's intention not to abdicate the munus, but only to renounce the active ministry is decisive in determining the nullity of the act. It is patent that a pope who intends to renounce the active exercise of the Petrine  ministry, but who expresses his intention to retain the passive service of the munus which he received on 19 April 2005, does not vacate the office. Hence, the intention to render the chair vacant is defective, since one who intends to retains the passive exercise of the munus retains the munus, and therefore still occupies the chair.

* Can. 19 - Si certa de re desit expressum legis sive universalis sive particularis praescriptum; aut consuetudo, causa, nisi sit poenalis, dirimenda est attentis legibus latis in similibus, generalibus iuris principiis cum aequitate canonica servatis, iurisprudentia et praxi Curiae Romanae, communi constantique doctorum sententia. [End]

     Gänswein and Violi are right. Weigel and all who agree with him are wrong. Pope Benedict XVI did not resign the Petrine office. Benedict's own words express this beyond all shadow of doubt.

     George Weigel's words illustrate the futility of arguing against reason. Weigel says, " A papal abdication, no matter what the circumstances, involves renouncing the Office of Peter, not reconceptualizing it." The proposition is entirely correct, but Weigel's (and a multitude of nominal Catholics) belief that Benedict XVI "abdicated" the petrine office is a fallacious a priori assumption based on an uncritical reading of Benedict's act of renunciation.

     The text of Benedict's 11/02/2013Declaratio has been systematically analyzed by Canon Law professor Stefano Violi, in his article published in the Theological Journal of Lugano (Rivista teologica di Lugano),  The Re unciation of Benedict XVI Between History, Law and Conscience
[Theological Faculty of Emilia Romagna – Faculty of Theology (Lugano).]    

     Violi demonstrates by strict application of the rules of logic and principles of law that Benedict expressed his intention to renounce only the active exercise of the petrine ministry, but not the papal office. Weigel's responds to those who refuse to be swayed by the uncritical and logically flawed arguments which erroneously assume a priori that Benedict "resigned" from the office, by personally berating them with gratuitous ad hominems and blindly rejecting their position without the slightest attempt at refutation.

     Prof. Violi explains in his article, "On 11 February 2013, Benedict XVI declared hisrenunciation not of the office, but of its administration. The limited renumciation of the active exercise of the munus constitutes the absolute novelty of the renunciation of Benedict XVI". By renouncing only the exercise of the munus, but not the office itself, Benedict did not vacate the office, but remained in office as pope and Vicar of Christ. (cf. The Resignation of Benedict XVI

Between History, Law and Conscience -- Professor Stefano Violi  http://www.fatima.org/news/newsviews/newsviews031315.pdf; http://chiesa.espresso.repubblica.it/articolo/1350913)

     In order to understand exactly what Benedict's intention was in his act of renunciation, it is necessary to critically examine his words and determine the moral object of that act; since the object of the act specifies precisely the essence of the act. Prof. Violi has meticulously and expertly carried out such a critical analysis of Benedict's words.

     In his act of renunciation Benedict XVI specified precisely what he intended to renounce -- and what he renounced was the "active exercise of the petrine ministry". Such an intention as that does not suffice to vacate the papal office. The fact that he voluntarily took the name 'Pope Emeritus' and made his submission to the infidel Bergoglio does not change the fact that his renunciation was null & void for reason of defect of intention. 

"La mia decisione di rinunciare all’esercizio attivo del ministero, non revoca questo."

      These are Pope Benedict's own words by which he explicitly specified the object of the act of renunciation as a "decision to renounce the active exercise of the ministry". THAT DOES NOT CONSTITUTE A RENUNCIATION OF THE OFFICE.

     Benedict XVI states explicitly that the gravity his decision to accept the papacy consisted in the fact that he was thereby engaged in a committment, received from Christ, which is "for always", and his "decision to renounce the active exercise of the ministry does not revoke this." Thus, Benedict did not renounce the Petrine office or its ministry, but only the active exercise of the ministry. He then goes on to say that he will no longer wield the power of office, but will remain "within the enclosure of St. Peter": " Non porto più la potestà dell’officio per il governo della Chiesa, ma nel servizio della preghiera resto, per così dire, nel recinto di san Pietro. San Benedetto, il cui nome porto da Papa, mi sarà di grande esempio in questo. Egli ci ha mostrato la via per una vita, che, attiva o passiva, appartiene totalmente all’opera di Dio." ("I no longer bear the power of office for the governance of the Church, but in the service of prayer I remain, so to speak, in the enclosure of Saint Peter. Saint Benedict, whose name I bear as Pope, will be a great example for me in this. He showed us the way for a life which, whether active or passive, is completely given over to the work of God.")  
    Hence, the intention expressed by Pope Benedict is to remain in the Petrine office and retain the passive aspect of its official service (munus), i.e. "the service of prayer"; and to hand over the active aspect of the munus, i.e. exercise of governance, to a successor, who will effectively fulfill the function of a coadjutor with power of jurisdiction. Thus, Benedict's clearly expressed intention was not to abdicate the office, but only to vacate the cathedra in the qualified sense of handing the seat of power of governance to one who will succeed him in the active governance, but not abdicating from the office itself. This solves the apparent mystery and explains why Benedict XVI refused to revert to being Cardinal Ratzinger; and why he retains his papal coat of arms and papal attire.
   In his Declaration of Feb. 11, 2013, Pope Benedict states as the reason for his decision his waning energy and consequent inability to administer the official duties of the papacy due to advanced age: Conscientia mea iterum atque iterum coram Deo explorata ad cognitionem certam perveni vires meas ingravescente aetate non iam aptas esse ad munus Petrinum aeque administrandum.
   However, he states his awareness of the spiritual nature of the official service, the munus of the petrine office; namely, it is not merely active and verbal, but is to be fulfilled to no lesser degree by praying and suffering:  Bene conscius sum hoc munus secundum suam essentiam spiritualem non solum agendo et loquendo exsequi debere, sed non minus patiendo et orando. It is this passive function of the office that he expressly stated was his intention to retain in his above cited discourse of 27 Feb. 2013.
     It was only the active service, the execution of the ministery regarding grave affairs of the Church and proclaiming the gospel, which he said he could no longer adequately perform: Attamen in mundo nostri temporis rapidis mutationibus subiecto et quaestionibus magni ponderis pro vita fidei perturbato ad navem Sancti Petri gubernandam et ad annuntiandum Evangelium etiam vigor quidam corporis et animae necessarius est, qui ultimis mensibus in me modo tali minuitur, ut incapacitatem meam ad ministerium mihi commissum bene administrandum agnoscere debeam.
   Therefore, in the next sentence he declares his intention to renounce that ministry:  Quapropter bene conscius ponderis huius actus plena libertate declaro me ministerio Episcopi Romae, Successoris Sancti Petri, mihi per manus Cardinalium die 19 aprilis MMV commisso renuntiare ita ut a die 28 februarii MMXIII, hora 20, sedes Romae, sedes Sancti Petri vacet et Conclave ad eligendum novum Summum Pontificem ab his quibus competit convocandum esse.
    Thus, based on a strict analysis of Benedict's words, Prof. Violi concludes, "On 11 February 2013, Benedict XVI declared his renunciation not of the office, but of its administration. The limited renumciation of the active exercise of the munus constitutes the absolute novelty of the renunciation of Benedict XVI". 
[From the "Theological Journal of Lugano"XVIII 2/2013. The author is a priest of the diocese of Modena who teaches Canon Law in the Theological Faculty if Emilia Romagna, and in the Faculty of Theology of Lugano. Dalla "Rivista Teologica di Lugano" XVIII, 2 / 2013. L'autore è sacerdote della diocesi di Modena e insegna diritto canonico nella Facoltà Teologica dell'Emilia Romagna e nella Facoltà di Teologia di Lugano.]

     The recent statements of Archbishop Georg Gänswein explicitly confirm that it was Benedict's intention to not to resign the office but to "broaden" it -- not to step down, but to "step aside" and make room for a collaborator with whom the papal munus would be shared. About this there can no longer be any doubt. The proposition that Benedict abdicated the office and thereby fully relinquished the munus of the petrine office explicitly contradicts Benedict's own words by which he expressly stated his intention to retain the passive exercise of the petrine munus. 

     Benedict's judgment that his decision to renounce the active exercise of the ministry would result in vacating the See of Rome is is flawed in its logic, being based on a fallacious premise, to wit, that the chair can be vacated by a pontiff who explicitly states in his act of renunciation, his intention to retain a partial exercise of the petrine munus; thereby expressing his will not to entirely relinquish the munus of office. By explicitly stating his intention to partially retain the munus of office, Benedict's act is thereby rendered null & void due to defect of intention; hence, his statement that his renunciation of the ministry was valid, is plainly erroneous.

     Mons. Gänswein is the personal secretary of Pope Benedict and his spokesman. He is only restating in the vernacular that which Pope Benedict already stated in terse canonical Latin on 11 Feb 2013, and reiterated in his final public audience on 27 Feb 2013.

     Absolutely none of Weigel's comments addresses the essential point made by Violi, Socci, and myself that Benedict XVI in his renunciation stated explicitly his intention to partially retain the official petrine munus. This plainly stated intention renders the act of renunciation null & void, since the See is not vacated unless the pope fully relinquishes the petrine munus.

     Furthermore, Benedict's claim made in his act of renunciation, that his renunciation of the petrine ministry will vacate the Chair and necessitate the election of a successor is logically inconsistent; and stands in irreconcilable opposition to his statement in the same document expressing his intention to retain the passive exercise of the munus; and his subsequent explicit affirmation that, "My decision to renounce the active ministry does not revoke this."

     These opposing statements constitute a fatal equivocation in the act of renunciation which renders the act null & void. In order that an act have the juridical force of law, in must unequivocally state that which it intends to be the juridical effect of the act. If it makes statements that stand in logical opposition regarding the intended juridical effect of the act; it's meaning becomes irremediably unintelligible, and therefore doubtful -- and as such, incapable of having the force of law: Lex dubia lex nulla.

     What is absolutely certain, however, is that Pope Benedict did not resign the petrine office. What Benedict did attempt, was the theological impossibility of dividing the exercise of the indivisible petrine munus between two men. Both Archbishop Gänswein and Prof. Violi have grasped perfectly what was actually Pope Benedict's stated intention, but hardly anyone else has attempted to gain a precise understanding of the specific nature of the act by analyzing the text of the Declaratio, and determining its moral object.

       Violi has stated it plainly: 

"Benedict XVI divested himself of all the power of government and command inherent in his office, without however, abandoning his service to the Church: this continues through the exercise of the spiritual dimension of the pontifical munus entrusted to him. This he did not intend renouncing. He renounced not his duties, which are, irrevocable, but the concrete execution of them."

If Pope Benedict had simply "resigned", "abdicated", or "renounced the petrine office"; he would not be dressed in white, and not be retaining the papal name and coat of arms. He did not simply "resign". He renounced the "exercise of the ministry", and expressed the intention to retain the passive aspect of the munus of office (which he said was not less important than the active aspect). This leaves us with two papal claimants: One who refuses to abdicate the office and totally relinquish any claim on the official munus, and the other who fills the partial vacuum left by Benedict's withdrawl from the exercise of papal jurisdiction.

    Since such an act that would divide the papacy is patently contrary to the divine constitution of the Church, which defined the singularity of the petrine office in Pastor Æternus; the renunciation of Pope Benedict can be judged invalid with absolute certitude.

     The Petrine munus remains singularly and permanently with the Pope, who is the Bishop of Rome. It cannot be divided: "Ecclesiae Romanae Episcopus, in quo permanet munus a Domino singulariter Petro . . ." (Canon 321) The munus consists in the service and duties of office. The singularity of the office was solemnly defined by Vatican I in Pastor Æternus.

     Thus, Pope Benedict's official declaration that he renounced only the active exercise of the munus; but retains the passive exercise of that official munus is manifestly contrary to the divine constitution of the Church, and is therefore null & void. Pope Benedict XVI remains in office as the one and only valid successor of St. Peter. Francis is an antipope and a manifest heretic. Benedict has consistently and repeatedly stated that what he renounced was only "the active exercise of the ministry"; and he stated on 27/02/2013 that his act of renunciation "does not revoke this" (By "this" he expressly referred to his irrevocable accepance of the petrine munus on 19 April 2005, which he explained earlier in the same discourse, which I have quoted above). Since 2013 Pope Benedict has left it to his secrerary, Archbishop Gänswein to explain the matter; but Benedict's own words pronounced publicly in Feb. 2013 have already stated precisely what Archbishop Gänswein has recently (21 May) only reiterated, namely, that Benedict XVI has not left the petrine office:

„Seit der Wahl seines Nachfolgers Franziskus am 13. März 2013 gibt es keine zwei Päpste, aber de facto ein erweitertes Amt - mit einem aktiven und einem kontemplativen Teilhaber. Darum hat Benedikt XVI. weder den weißen Talar noch seinen Namen abgelegt. Darum ist seine korrekte Anrede auch heute noch ‚Heiliger Vater’ (auf Italienisch: Santità), und darum zog er sich auch nicht in ein abgelegenes Kloster zurück, sondern in das Innere des Vatikans – als sei er nur beiseite getreten, um seinem Nachfolger und einer neuen Etappe in der Geschichte des Papsttums Raum zu geben, den er mit diesem Schritt bereichert hat um das Kraftwerk seines Gebets und Mitleidens in den Vatikanischen Gärten.“

"Dall’elezione del suo successore, Papa Francesco - il 13 marzo 2016 - non ci sono dunque due Papi, ma di fatto un ministero allargato con un membro attivo e uno contemplativo. Per questo, Benedetto non ha rinunciato né al suo nome né alla talare bianca. Per questo, l’appellativo corretto con il quale bisogna rivolgersi a lui è ancora 'Santità'. Inoltre, egli non si è ritirato in un monastero isolato, ma all’interno del Vaticano, come se avesse fatto solo un passo di lato per fare spazio al suo Successore e a una nuova tappa della storia del Papato che egli, con quel passo, ha arricchito con la centralità della preghiera e della compassione posta nei Giardini vaticani".