Responding to Sedevacantist arguments against the so-called “Vatican II/Novus Ordo” Church altered the form of some of the sacraments, John Salza and Robert Siscoe wrote:
Not only did Christ grant the Church the authority to determine “the matter and form for the Sacraments of Confirmation and Holy Orders,” but the Church also possesses the authority to alter the matter and form that she has established for the validity of a sacrament. This explains the direct contradiction between the teaching of the Council of Florence (in the Decree for the Amenians) and that of Pius XII (in Sacramentum Ordinis), who overturned what the Council of Florence taught constitutes the matter for the valid conferral of the sacrament of Holy Orders.
The Council of Florence taught that the passing of the tradition instrumentorum (the chalice and patten) is part of the matter for Holy Orders:
“The sixth sacrament is that of Order; its matter is that by the giving of which the Order is conferred: thus the priesthood is conferred by the giving of a chalice with wine and of a patten with bread; the form of the priesthood is as follows: ‘Receive power to offer sacrifice in the Church for the living and the dead, in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost.’” (Council of Florence [Denz., 701])
In Apostolicae Curae, Pope Leo XIII noted that when the traditional instruments are omitted from the ordination rite, the established custom is for the person to be conditionally re-ordained (Leo XIII, Apostolicae Curae, No. 21, September 18, 1896) . . . Pope Pius XII teaches in Sacramentum Ordinis a very important principle: “Ecclesiam quod statuit etiam mutare et abrogare valere—that which the Church has established she can also change and abrogate.” Then using the full force of his authority, he decreed that the traditio instrumentorum which the Council of Florence taught to be the matter of the sacrament of Holy Orders, was no longer required as the matter for Holy Orders. Pope Pius XII decreed:
“Wherefore, after invoking the divine light, We of Our Apostolic Authority and from certain knowledge declare, and as far as may be necessary decree and provide: that the matter, and the only matter, of the Sacred Orders of the Diaconate, the Priesthood, and the Episcopacy is the imposition of hands; . . . It follows as a consequence that We should declare, and in order to remove all controversy and to preclude doubts of conscience. We do by Our Apostolic Authority declare, and if there was ever a lawful disposition to the contrary. We now decree that at least in the future the traditio instrumentorum is not necessary for the validity of the Sacred Orders of the Diaconate, the Priesthood, and the Episcopacy (. . . ) in the Episcopal Ordination or Consecration, the matter is the imposition of hands which is done by the Bishop consecrator.” (Pius XII, Sacramentum Ordinis, No. 4, November 30, 1947)
Here we have a Pope explicitly abrogating the teaching of an ecumenical Council of the Church about what constitutes the matter for a sacrament . . . Pope Pius XII explained his ability to change what the Council of Florence taught about the matter of Holy Orders by noting that the tradition of the instruments had not been instituted as the matter of the sacraments by Christ Himself, but by the Church. Unlike Baptism and the double consecration at Mass, the form and matter for Holy Orders were only instituted by Christ in genre, and not in specie. Pius XII explained that even if the tradition of the instruments were necessary for validity (not liceity) by the will and command of the Church in the past, the Church has the authority to change or abrogate what she herself instituted. He wrote:
“Even according to the mind of the Council of Florence itself, the traditio instrumentorum is not required for the substance and validity of this Sacrament by the will of Our Lord Jesus Christ Himself. If I was at one time necessary, even for validity by the will and command of the Church, everyone knows that the Church has the power to change and abrogate what she herself has established.” (Ibid.)
. . . [I]n reality, Pius XII did not violate the Church’s infallibility, nor was there even a contradiction between his teaching and that of the Council of Florence [as] the Church does indeed possess the authority to alter some determination of the matter and form for the sacraments when such was instituted by the will and command of the Church, and not by Christ himself. (John Salza and Robert Siscoe, True or False Pope? Refuting Sedevacantism and Other Modern Errors [Winona, Minn.: St. Thomas Aquinas Seminary, 2015], 563-566, comments in square brackets added for clarification, emphasis in original)
The reason why I reproduce their response to Sedevacantists such as Patrick Henry Omlor (author of The Robber Church [if anyone has a copy of this book and wants to send me one, I won’t object!]) is that it puts the lie to a popular Roman Catholic claim that no doctrine has been altered by Catholicism in its history. The decrees of the Council of Florence, protected by the Holy Spirit in Catholic theology from producing error, being contradicted by the teachings of Pius XII vis-à-vis sacramental theology, and to downplay it by stating “the Church does indeed possess the authority to alter . . . the matter and form for the sacraments” is question-begging and special pleading to the max.
