St. Bernard's "Vengeance" on Satan in his Journey to end the Antipapacy of Antipope Anacletus & "I keep hearing that Antipapacies can only be determined after the putative Pope in question is dead. So why bother worrying about this now?"
Saint Bernard Vanquishing the Devil ...
Q: Ann, I keep hearing that Antipapacies can only be determined after the putative Pope in question is dead. So why bother worrying about this now?
A: This contention is what is known at Fordham Law School as “making **** up out of whole cloth”. I believe it is a second year course.
Here is Christopher Ferrara, a vocal proponent of this madness, in the Remnant a while back:
Here, however, we encounter the question whether the Holy Ghost has allowed the Church to be afflicted for a time by a de facto antipope whose election cannot be contested and whose papacy must be presumed valid until such time as a successor Pope or Council declares otherwise. On that vexed issue, in my view, we can have nothing definitive to say, meaning nothing by which the Church as a whole could gain operative certitude and proceed accordingly. What is certain, however, is that this Pope must be opposed in his efforts to undermine the Faith.
Wha? Where in the blue fiery blazes is he getting this garbage?
This contention is so stunning because it is so clearly disproven by even the most glancing, cursory examination of history. We’re talking three minutes scanning Wikipedia articles.
There have been something like FORTY antipopes in the past 2000 years, and every one was contested in real time, and almost all were deposed and ejected whilst squatting upon the See of Peter. One of the reasons that the Antipapacy of Anacletus II is so unusual is precisely because he died naturally “in office” after an eight year usurpation. St. Bernard of Clairvaux was the man who went to Rome WHILE ANACLETUS was still alive, and methodically demonstrated to the clergy and the aristocracy of Rome that Anacletus II was an Antipope, such that after Anacletus II died and his “successor” Antipope Victor IV was “elected”, Antipope Victor IV quickly repented after TWO DAYS as Antipope and presented himself to the true Pope, Innocent II. Bernard of Clairvaux and others worked tirelessly and persistently to correct the situation, remove the Antipope and restore the true Pope to the Chair IN REAL TIME. If one listens to the irrational gibberish being spewed today by these intransigent “Fwanciss is Pope shuddup stoopid schismatic!” partisans, one would have to declare that St. Bernard of Clairvaux committed the MORTAL SIN of SCHISM. - Catholic pundit Ann Barnhardt [https://www.barnhardt.biz/2022/05/03/qa-ann-i-keep-hearing-that-antipapacies-can-only-be-determined-after-the-putative-pope-in-question-is-dead-so-why-bother-worrying-about-this-now/]In the St. Bernard of Clairvaux journey which would end the antipapacy
of antipope Anacletus (with "truth and reason") according to a story
from tradition Satan attempted to block this journey by breaking down
the transportation of Bernard:
"The devil we are told, had a particular objection to this journey. He
foresaw and hated what was to come of it. Therefore,... the demon broke
the wheel of the carriage in which the Abbot travelled... The saint...
took vengeance on his enemy... he ordered Satan himself to become a
wheel, and replace the broken one. The fallen angel obeyed the words of
the holy man...and... carried Bernard to his destination."
(The Life and Time of Saint Bernard by James Cotter Morison, M.A., Page
210 tells the traditional story and page 212 speaks of how Bernard ended
the antipapacy with "truth and reason")
Might Satan in our time be attempting to block the saintly cardinal or bishop who
needs to come forward to call an imperfect council to judge with "truth
and reason" the papacy of Francis as he attempted to block St. Bernard
from ending the antipapacy of the antipope Anacletus?
Pray an Our Father and the St. Michael the Archangel prayer now for
Jesus Christ by His Precious Blood to send the saintly cardinal or bishop the
grace to overcome any satanic attempted blockage of his coming forward
to call the imperfect council to judge the papacy of Francis.