Commentary by Br. Alexis Bugnolo
Finally, the Archbishop did the decent thing and confronted the canonical problems with Pope Benedict XVI’s renunciation.* In his judgement, it is “clearly invalid” to effect the loss of the office of Pope.
The Archbishop, throughout his interview and the explanation of his viewpoint, still omits the distinction between someone who is a heretic before God and someone whom the Church declares to be a heretic. If one continues to ignore this distinction, one will end up usurping the authority of the Church to put someone outside the Church, as I have said many times. Personally, if our faith persuades us that a certain person is a heretic, we are obliged to avoid him and to denounce him, but we must never take the next step, on our own authority, and say he is not a member of the Church, nor that on our judgement alone he no longer has canonical rights, including the right to hold office or be appointed to an office before the Church has condemned him. Otherwise there would be chaos in the Church and we would fall into the error of Protestants and the Greek Orthodox, who have new and ever newer schisms among themselves unto this very day.
Moreover, how can a man who decries the rape of a woman and molestation of her children, be content to announce this to the world but fail to come to the police station and file criminal charges to identify the culprits? What kind of man would he be? As an Archbishop incardinated in the Vatican his duty is grave and immediate. That is why, it is not enough that he say what he says, he has a most grave obligation to bring a canonical complaint to the competent authorities, which in this case is a Provincial Council in the ecclesiastical province of Rome, or indeed, in any ecclesiastical province.
Because it is no small crime that a man claim the papacy but not have the Catholic Faith or the canonical basis to validly do so. And it is no small danger to the entire Mystical Body throughout the world that such a depraved man’s claim be allowed to tacitly go unchallenged.
All these things Archbishop Viganò will be answerable for before God if he should pass from this life having left undone. And this is why I have been publicly reproving him for his behavior for a long time.
Let us pray, therefore, that all urge the Archbishop to do these things (you can petition him through his website here), and that they urge other Bishops to undertake similar actions as has already been advocated by myself in the Sutri Initiative.
For, if because of my own status as no-one-with-any-more-importance-than-a-layman may have kept others from urging this very course of action, now that this eminent, bold and courageous Archbishop, incardinated at the Vatican has agreed on the fundamental canonical issues (that Pope Francis was NOT canonically elected pope on March 13, 2013, and that he does not appear in the judgement of honest and serious men to hold the Catholic Faith, and that he is destroying the Church), there can be no other course of action for honest Catholics, clerical or lay, than to urge a trial and reprehension of the man, to obtain either his willing deposition or his canoncially valid removal from office on the grounds that he has not the canonical qualifications to claim it).
All other Bishops, who are ordinaries of a diocese, or hold any office, and indeed all retired Bishops, are also now gravely bound to see this matter resolved canonically. For it is a grave public scandal to the world, and if a Bishop of God has not the integrity of moral character to urge such a thing — an action which risks nothing, since any one of them can do so without taking any side in his appeal other than that the Church resolve such a grave public crisis — of what value is he to Jesus Christ and His Church? — And as a Catholic, YOU personally have the right to tell them this to their faces when you meet them!
Finally, as a postscript, I wish to publicly thank and acclaim Dr. Taylor Marshall for having conducted this interview and published the Archbishop’s responses, especially in those matters contrary to his own habitual positions. This is what Catholic journalists and commentators should be doing, always.
FOOTNOTES
* If you have been a reader of FromRome.Info, you knew the resignation did not cause Pope Benedict XVI to cease being pope at least from 2018, though I have covered this controversy since 2014.
If the majority of the upper echelon of the church are supporters of Francis’ heresies, how will they then declare any Pope a heretic?
Your “if ….” statement is a mere assertion. The kickback on Fiducia Supplicans proves your assertion is materially if not formally false. Have hope in Christ, Who promised, “The Gates of Hell shall not prevail …”. For those who trust in Him shall not be condemned or counfounded.
Thank you for setting me straight. I participated in the letter writing campaign and had such high hopes. I forgot the progress that was made.
Another sedevacantist.
I value Vigano’s opinions about as much as your average Républican’s. This is what he just posted on X :
“Donald Trump the greatest defender of the supreme values of Christian civilization: of life, from conception to natural death; of the natural family composed of one man and one woman and children; and of love for the homeland: One Nation under God! And, most importantly, he stands for defending the right to freely practice our Faith, thus allowing us more fully to honor God.”
https://x.com/ArchbpVigano/status/1822473296262402157
If we are defective in the hope we should have in Jesus Christ, we easily become susceptible to seeking an earthly savior or some earthly thinker whose ideas and person can solve the present problems of the world. This is how, what I call “white” freemasonry fools Christians into giving their allegiance to their own projects, all of which lead ultimately to disarming the Mystical Body of Christ, which is His Church, from upholding Christendom and eliminating the scourge of Freemasonry from the planet.
Amen & AMEN !!
Vigano is an enigma and, almost certainly, “controlled opposition”. He seems unable to ‘grasp the nettle’ of what the Church most needs right now – a Provincial Council to put Bergoglio ‘on trial’ and determine whether or not he is a formal heretic with deviant sexual attractions & a freemason, thus rendering his papacy since 30th January 2023 null & void……as consistently advocated by Brother Alexis over the last year!
Pax tecum.
Christus vincit;
Christus regnat;
Christus imperat.
Certainly when someone recognizes at the end of one’s days, that he has worked along side very corrupt men, it may be very difficult to believe still that the juridical structures of the Church will still work. I for one, though I believe a most severe judgement awaits those who have such responsibility and do not act, would not thereby conclude that Vigano is “controlled” by men. And surely with our prayers and those of the Saints and many others, he can muster the courage to do even this, to bring a formal canonical denunciation. He has come further than all the others. So I believe he needs prayers more than condemnations.
Traduction française :
Mgr Vigano déclare enfin que la démission de Benoît XVI n’était pas valide
https://www.homelie.biz/2024/08/mgr-vigano-declare-enfin-que-la-demission-de-benoit-xvi-n-etait-pas-valide.html
Good to hear from you again, miss you, you are our Maximilian Kolbe of our time.la milizia dell,Immacolata.totally agree again with you ,GOD bless you fra alexis….
I pray for Archbishop Vigano and for you Brother Alexis. Every, single time that I have heard the Archbishop speak or have read his written words, there has always been a recurring theme of support for the downtrodden, a raising of the level of Logos and Faith, and encouraging people to learn about and follow the ways of our Lord Jesus Christ. I have never sensed that he wanted to pull the heard away from the Church. If anything, I think the Archbishop wants us to reclaim the Church and Word of Our Lord and to raise it back up to its proper level. By seeking to unite and support the people in the way of Jesus Christ, he has proven to be anti-schismatic. And I have always walked away thinking the Leaders of the Church should be doing and saying what Archbishop Vigano was doing and saying. Why was he more concerned than the Pope with the struggle of the Canadian Truckers in 2022? Did the Pope not understand what people were fighting for? Did anybody tell him? Did he care? I have no clue about the Pope but I do know that the Archbishop cared. Cared enough to send a much needed uplifting and suppotive message to the salt of the earth Truckers. These great people were fighting their government for their rights to earn their livelihoods. And Archbishop Vigano, (as far as I’m concerned) the real leader of the Church, knew it and put faith and prays on the side of the Truckers. I’ve often thought that the Archbishop should be Pope. More people who are Catholic in name only would be inclined to become part of the Church or come back to the Church if we had a real leader that was truly concerned with the problems that face everyday people and who wasn’t afraid to stand up and speak the truth instead of us having to pretend that blessings to homosexuals and other deviants is somehow the teaching of the Gospel and needs to become ok now. I was disappointed when Dr. E. Michael Jones decided that he was siding with the narrative about Archbishop Vigano’s excommunication, I thought he would look at the situation objectively and find some points to give the Archbishop but he seemed more apt to follow the Vatican II, Novis Ordo, FS Leadership of the cliff. I know he is serious about unity, I just believe that we need to make sure that our unity if for that which advances the Word and teachings of Our Lord, more than to suits, buildings and titles. I will continue to pray for you, the Archbishop and all of us who suffer. May the suffering place us closer to God. All the Best Brother Alexis.
I read the Taylor Marshal interview——and Archbishop Vigano said ( in it) to attend the Tridentine Mass ( of Pope St Pius V) —-if none are available—then not to attend the New Mass at all——-This had confused me for a long time ( and for a while all I did was read a 1959 St Joseph missal + pray the Holy rosary)——but now I’m reading a book by late Fr Louis Bouyer on the Holy Eucharist ( published 1968 —-over 1000 pages + 20 years of research [ Fr Bouyer was a former Lutheran minister—who became a Catholic priest in 1944—He was also a “periti” for Vatican II council])——The book is incredible——There was to be a renewal going on back then ( with newly acquired knowledge) -but late Malachi Martin ( former Jesuit priest) was disillusioned with the Council——-When priests are against one another——this confuses the laity as to where one should go——-it is a terrible disorientation
The Most Blessed Sacrament of the Altar, according to the doctrine of the Church and Saints Thomas Aquinas and Bonaventure of Bagnoregio, is validly confected whenever the Words of Institution are said by a valid priest over real wheat bread. This happens both in the Old Rite and the New. The other words before and after this, distinguish the two rites. And clearly the Old one, which comes from the Apostles through the hands of Catholics is the true Mass, the latter invented by misbelieving and sacrilegious and proud men, God willing will one day pass away. I am not speaking of Latin vs the vernacular. But since we laity cannot survive spiritually without the Lord Jesus, we can receive the Most Blessed Sacrament at either Mass, so long as heresy is not preached during it. Alas, children have been raped by priests who say both masses and there is no TLM society I know of, except the tiny ones, where priests have not fallen into that abomination. So the Archbishop’s words should be understood as a sign pointing to what is better, but not necessary to where is safer.
Pedophilia is a demonic sin and disease that infects every human society. The most effective preventative is for parents to teach their children to beware of inappropriate behavior by anyone, and to assure their children that they will be heard if they speak out. Parents need to stand as the defenders of their children against the rest of the world if necessary.