Cum ex apostolatus officio
Pope Paul IV
February 15, 1559 A. D.
6. In addition, [by this Our Constitution, which is to remain valid in perpetuity We enact, determine, decree and define:] that if ever at any time it shall appear that any Bishop, even if he be acting as an Archbishop, Patriarch or Primate; or any Cardinal of the aforesaid Roman Church, or, as has already been mentioned, any legate, or even the Roman Pontiff, prior to his promotion or his elevation as Cardinal or Roman Pontiff, has deviated from the Catholic Faith or fallen into some heresy:
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- (i) the promotion or elevation, even if it shall have been uncontested and by the unanimous assent of all the Cardinals, shall be null, void and worthless;
(ii) it shall not be possible for it to acquire validity (nor for it to be said that it has thus acquired validity) through the acceptance of the office, of consecration, of subsequent authority, nor through possession of administration, nor through the putative enthronement of a Roman Pontiff, or Veneration, or obedience accorded to such by all, nor through the lapse of any period of time in the foregoing situation;
(iii) it shall not be held as partially legitimate in any way;
(iv) to any so promoted to be Bishops, or Archbishops, or Patriarchs, or Primates or elevated as Cardinals, or as Roman Pontiff, no authority shall have been granted, nor shall it be considered to have been so granted either in the spiritual or the temporal domain;
(v) each and all of their words, deeds, actions and enactments, howsoever made, and anything whatsoever to which these may give rise, shall be without force and shall grant no stability whatsoever nor any right to anyone;
(vi) those thus promoted or elevated shall be deprived automatically, and without need for any further declaration, of all dignity, position, honour, title, authority, office and power.
Editor’s Commentary
Since the sanctions of this Papal Bull have never been abolished or passed out of force, it having been promulgated to remain forever in force, and with this Bull still being cited as a source of legal right in commentaries of the Code of Canon Law, having never been derogated or obrogated by subsequent legislation, I publish this English translation of n. 6 of the said Bull, for the sane, solemn and sober clarification of all consciences of all Catholics who are following the news of the upcoming conclave.
I consider this particularly of the most grave duty on my part, as a Catholic of the Roman Rite, resident at Rome, according to ecclesiastical law, to defend Holy Mother Church from a heretical usurper.
Unlike the election of Pope Francis in 2013, which was invalid because Pope Benedict XVI never resigned, where we Catholics could take no action while Pope Benedict XVI lived other than to publicize the invalidity of his abdication, and unlike the Assembly of Apostolic Rite, where there were no other candidates who came forward to be successors of Pope Benedict XVI, this month of May, 2025, there are many Cardinals, electors and non electors, who are likely to be candidates who are manifest heretics, and many who are not.
Moreover, since if a manifest heretic be elected, then certainly there was a manifest Catholic who lost in the invalid Conclave’s action of choosing a heretic the victor. This means that there will be as many as 44 Catholic Cardinals who refused to vote for him.
Thus, in accord with the above Papal Bull, they and we have the right to NOT recognize as valid the election of such a heretic, if, God forbid, it come to pass.
But to make it clear that we have this right, I publish an excerpt from the above bull, which an be found in
Latin and English here: https://www.dailycatholic.org/cumexapo.htm
In Spanish and Latin: https://www.piauniosanctipauliapostoli.com/bula_cum_ex_apostolatus_officio_pp_pauloiv/
- This Spanish translation has a canonical commentary beforehand which is sound and Catholic, along with other confirmatory documents. The publishers of this website have gone back to the original codices and transcribed and translated the documents, which is very professional and to be commended. You rarely find such scholarship on the internet.
In Italiano: https://cooperatores-veritatis.org/2018/04/10/paolo-iv-cum-ex-apostolatus-officio-infallibilita-papale/
In French: https://laportelatine.org/formation/magistere/bulle-cum-ex-apostolatus-officio-1559 —
- However, note that this French translation and this Italian translation are prefaced by a commentary which is entirely false and misleading, because it tries to configure this papal bull under general censures and penalties abolished in the codes of 1917 or 1983 which regard other matters; whereas both codes, as I have shown here and here, explicitly limit their abrogations to previous legislation which has been incorporated into those codes; and both emphatically state that prior laws are presumed to remain in force if the matter they deal with is not contained in these codes.
- A common candard used to psyop those who cite this bull is that “It is not an infallible decree, therefore it is absurd to appeal to it as still valid”. This is a bait and switch strategy, because a Papal Bull remains valid unless explicitly abrogated. For example all the Bulls which founded religious orders such as the Franciscans or Dominicans, or military orders like the Knights of Malta. If their claim that this bull was abolished by the codes of 1917 or 1983 or any other papal law which does not mention “Cum ex apostolatus officio” by name, then these other bulls would also be abolished, which is absurd.
How Sedevacantists misuse this Bull
Sedevacantists are not interested in saving the Apostolic See from a heretic, but only making an excuse not to obey the current Pope or past popes. Moreover, as far as I know, there are no sedevacantists at Rome. They are found in many other places in the world, rather.
How Catholics at Rome can use this Biull legitimately and virtuously
But we Catholics at Rome, members of the Church of Rome, by citing this Bull’s affirmation of our right not to recognize a manifest heretic as validly elected, we can invoke recourse to our Apostolic Right as members of the Church founded by Saint Peter, to elect the pope, which we enjoy by the Apostle’s decision to entrust us with the election of his successor, a thing which we did until 1059, when that election under normal circumstances was entrusted to the Cardinals. But this Apostolic right revives whenever the Cardinals refuse to elect a pope — as they did after the death of Pope Benedict XVI — or refuse to elect a Catholic: the first event which was entirely unique in the history of the Church, and the second which we pray will never happen, but is highly likely to happen this May of 2025, due to the large number of manifest and pertinacious heretics appointed by Pope Francis as Cardinals and never repudiated by the Church in any tribunal, since Pope Francis would not permit it.
Appeal to our right granted in this Bull will allow us in the sight of God — and of the entire Church which recognizes the true Roman Pontiff is the one who was elected in a juridically valid manner — to proceed to an election of a Catholic pope, and thus allow all Catholics everywhere adhere to a true Catholic Pope and begin a fight world-wide and diocese by diocese to expel heretics and install Catholics, as Saint Athanasius did in his day.
An Assembly of Apostolic Right is a public assembly open to all the Cardinals, Bishops, Monsignori, Priests, Deacons, Seminarians, Laity and diocesan religious, incardinated it or resident in the Church of Rome (Dioceses of Rome and suburbican sees), nearly all of whom will be present on account of the Conclave which began this afternoon.
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