In my opinion, the two intellectual giants in the Church in the United States are Edward Feser and Fr. Chad Ripperger.
In philosophy Feser is the top mind while in spirituality and psychology Fr. Ripperger tops Feser.
Feser and Rippinger disagree on rather Catholics and Moslems worship the
same "God." I am sure that their disagreement is as Feser says because
he is talking about the issue in the "philosophy of language" and not
about the Catholic and Moslem "deep disagreements about the nature of
God."
Despite that I would love to see a debate between the two on the subject. (I think Ripperger might win because it seems Feser despite his deep Thomistic learning appears to have blind spots when he seemingly and possibly unconsciously attempts to be theologically and politically correct.)
On the other hand, I have seen Feser totally destroy, with a devastating intellectual knock
out Mark Shea (which is pretty easy), theologian Massimo Faggioli (a
bit harder) and on YouTube win an impressive victory over a very
intelligent Atheist.
I feel like I am getting into the ring with Mike Tyson when he was
knocking everyone out in the first round, but I think Feser is wrong on
the Open Letter.
First, I need to say, as aways, his post on the Open Letter was overall
very impressive and as always intellectually fair and even handed.
But, I disagreed with his statement that the Open Letter was "rashly made."
The main reason I disagreed with that statement is because he wrote:
"For example, Pope Francis has made many statements that at least seem
to contradict traditional Catholic teaching on divorce and remarriage,
conscience, grace, capital punishment, and a variety of other topics."
(Edwardfeser.blogspot, "Some comments on the Open letter, May 6, 2019)
It appears to me that Francis doesn't just "seem to contradict
traditional Catholic teaching on divorce and remarriage," but explicitly
"contradict[ed] traditional Catholic teaching on divorce and
remarriage" when he in a "official act as the pope" placed the Argentine
letter in the the Acts of the Apostolic See (AAS) in which he said of
the Buenos Aires region episcopal guidelines:
"There is no other interpretations."
The guidelines explicitly allows according to LifeSiteNews "sexuality
active adulterous couples facing 'complex circumstances' to 'access the
sacraments of Reconciliation and the Eucharist.'"
(LifeSiteNews, "Confusion explodes as Pope Francis throws magisterial weight behind communion for adulterers, December 4, 2017)
In a article on OnePeterFive, specialist in Magisterial authority Dr.
John Joy said "It means that it is an official act of the pope."
Moreover, the article said:
"Dr. Joy pointed out that adding the letter to the AAS could, in fact,
damage the credibility of Amoris Laetitia by potentially removing the
possibility that it could be intercepted in an orthodox way, via its
publication in the official acts of the Apostolic See, that the
unorthodox interpretation is the official one."
(OnePeterFive, "Pope's Letter on Argentinian Communion Guidelines for Remarriage Given Official Status," December 2, 2017)
The "official act of" Francis is a "unorthodox interpretation."
It doesn't just "seem to contradict traditional Catholic teaching."
The "official act of the pope" is a "unorthodox interpretation" which
means it contradicts traditional Catholic teaching which is just another
way of saying by "official act the pope" is teaching heresy.
Now, let us quote Feser:
"(1) Adulterous sexual acts are in some special circumstances morally
permissible... these propositions flatly contradict irreformable
Catholic teaching. Proposition (1) contradicts not only the perennial
moral teaching of the Church, but the teaching of scripture itself."
(Edwardfeser.blogspot, "Denial flows into the Tiber," December 18, 2016)
Francis Notes:
- Doctor
of the Church St. Francis de Sales totally confirmed beyond any doubt
the possibility of a heretical pope and what must be done by the Church
in such a situation:
"[T]he Pope... WHEN he is EXPLICITLY a heretic, he falls ipso facto from his dignity and out of the Church, and the Church MUST either deprive him, or, as some say, declare him deprived, of his Apostolic See."
(The Catholic Controversy, by St. Francis de Sales, Pages 305-306)
Saint Robert Bellarmine, also, said "the Pope heretic is not deposed ipso facto, but must be declared deposed by the Church."
[https://archive.org/stream/SilveiraImplicationsOfNewMissaeAndHereticPopes/Silveira%20Implications%20of%20New%20Missae%20and%20Heretic%20Popes_djvu.txt]
- "If Francis is a Heretic, What should Canonically happen to him?": http://www.thecatholicmonitor.com/2020/12/if-francis-is-heretic-what-should.html
- "Could Francis be a Antipope even though the Majority of Cardinals claim he is Pope?": http://www.thecatholicmonitor.com/2019/03/could-francis-be-antipope-even-though.html
- LifeSiteNews, "Confusion explodes as Pope Francis throws magisterial
weight behind communion for adulterers," December 4, 2017:
The AAS guidelines explicitly allows "sexually active adulterous couples
facing 'complex circumstances' to 'access the sacraments of
Reconciliation and the Eucharist.'"
- On February 2018, in Rorate Caeli, Catholic theologian Dr. John Lamont:
"The AAS statement... establishes that Pope Francis in Amoris Laetitia
has affirmed propositions that are heretical in the strict sense."
- On December 2, 2017, Bishop Rene Gracida:
"Francis' heterodoxy is now official. He has published his letter to the
Argentina bishops in Acta Apostlica Series making those letters
magisterial documents."
Pray an Our Father now for the restoration of the Church by the bishops by the grace of God.
Election Notes:
- Intel Cryptanalyst-Mathematician on
Biden Steal: "212Million Registered Voters & 66.2% Voting,140.344 M
Voted...Trump got 74 M, that leaves only 66.344 M for Biden" [http://catholicmonitor.blogspot.com/2020/12/intel-cryptanalyst-mathematician-on.html?m=1]
- Will US be Venezuela?: Ex-CIA
Official told Epoch Times "Chávez started to Focus on [Smartmatic]
Voting Machines to Ensure Victory as early as 2003": http://catholicmonitor.blogspot.com/2020/12/will-us-be-venezuela-ex-cia-official.html
Pray an Our Father now for the grace to know God's Will and to do it.