"Even if Bergoglio is Christ's Vicar--a doubtful proposition at best, & a Christian is never morally justified in acting while in doubt--Bergoglio cannot replace the potestas claves with his own whims"

The following is from a Catholic Monitor reader:

Bishop Strickland has also recently stated that, although he will not resign, he will comply if Bergoglio removes him. Some people are applauding the Bishop of Tyler, Texas, for this; others, accusing him of moral cowardice. Both reactions are wide of the mark. Juxtaposing Bishop Strickland's proclamation of faith in the one true Church established by Jesus Christ with a willingness to obey man rather than God makes even moral cowardice too light a charge. Hypocrisy, in this case, would be the only tenable allegation.

If the Catholic Church really is the one true Church established by Jesus Christ--which is the case--then our obedience is owed ultimately to Our Lord and Savior; and to others, even the pope, only when in alignment with Him. Even if Bergoglio is Christ's Vicar--a doubtful proposition at best, and a Christian is never morally justified in acting while in doubt--Bergoglio cannot replace the potestas claves with his own whims, and we are not obeying Christ by knuckling under to such whims, either. If Bergoglio does try to remove Bishop Strickland and Bishop Strickland capitulates out of sheer human respect, not demanding any canonical or other justification for this travesty, then Bishop Strickland cannot actually believe that the Church was established by Jesus Christ at all. By his actions regardless of his words, Bishop Strickland will testify that the Church is of merely human origin instead.

Authority in the Church, after all, is not exercised the same way as authority in Auschwitz. Mindless functionalism is not a hallmark of sanctity; the martyrs became martyrs by standing for the good no matter what, not by being willing to betray it at the first sign of trouble. Bishop Strickland is behaving as though he believes the office he holds is his own, to do with as he pleases. He is acting, come to think of it,just like Bergoglio himself.

There was a priest one time--true story--who was mugged at gunpoint. The mugger demanded Father's money or his life. Father always said afterwards that, if the cash he was carrying had been his own, he would gladly have forked it over, but since it belonged to his religious community, he believed he had no right to part with it, come what may. It is instructive that Divine Providence protected Father despite his refusal of the mugger's demands on these grounds.

Bishop Strickland saying he will go quietly if necessary reminds me of the story of Father's mugging--only, disappointingly, the other way around. [https://www.thecatholicmonitor.com/2023/09/lifesite-news-bishop-strickland-christ.html?showComment=1695005762390#c7985151279574126047]

Pray an Our Father now for reparation for the sins committed because of Francis’s Amoris Laetitia.

Pray an Our Father now for the restoration of the Church as well as the Triumph of the Kingdom of the Sacred Heart and the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

Stop for a moment of silence, ask Jesus Christ what He wants you to do now and next. In this silence remember God, Father, Son and Holy Ghost – Three Divine Persons yet One God, has an ordered universe where you can know truth and falsehood as well as never forget that He wants you to have eternal happiness with Him as his son or daughter by grace. Make this a practice. By doing this you are doing more good than reading anything here or anywhere else on the Internet.

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

– If Francis betrays Benedict XVI & the”Roman Rite Communities” like he betrayed the Chinese Catholics we must respond like St. Athanasius, the Saintly English Bishop Robert Grosseteste & “Eminent Canonists and Theologians” by “Resist[ing]” him: https://www.thecatholicmonitor.com/2021/12/if-francis-betrays-benedict-xvi.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

– Tucker Carlson’s Conservatism Inc. Biden Steal Betrayal is explained by “One of the Greatest Columns ever Written” according to Rush: http://catholicmonitor.blogspot.com/2021/01/tucker-carlsons-conservatism-inc-biden.html?m=1

– A Hour which will Live in Infamy: 10:01pm November 3, 2020:
http://www.thecatholicmonitor.com/2021/01/a-hour-which-will-live-in-infamy-1001pm.html?m=1

What is needed right now to save America from those who would destroy our God given rights is to pray at home or in church and if called to even go to outdoor prayer rallies in every town and city across the United States for God to pour out His grace on our country to save us from those who would use a Reichstag Fire-like incident to destroy our civil liberties. [Is the DC Capitol Incident Comparable to the Nazi Reichstag Fire Incident where the German People Lost their Civil Liberties?: http://catholicmonitor.blogspot.com/2021/01/is-dc-capital-incident-comparable-to.html?m=1 and Epoch Times Show Crossroads on Capitol Incident: “Anitfa ‘Agent Provocateurs‘”:
http://catholicmonitor.blogspot.com/2021/01/epoch-times-show-crossroads-on-capital.html?m=1] 

Pray an Our Father now for the grace to know God’s Will and to do it.

Pray an Our Father now for America.

Pray an Our Father now for the restoration of the Church as well as the Triumph of the Kingdom of the Sacred Heart and the Immaculate Heart of Mary.