Thursday, October 24, 2019

Robert Bellarmine vs. the SSPX "Recognize and Resist" and "Cafeteria Catholic" Approaches to the Papacy


While reading Robert Bellarmine's catechism, I came across the following where Bellarmine (both a saint and doctor of the Catholic Church) refutes the "recognize and resist" position of the SSPX and/or "cafeteria" Catholicism vis-a-vis the ordinary teaching magisterium of the Roman Pontiff, something both mainstream "Novus Ordo" Catholics and Sedevacantists raise against such a position. In a mock dialogue between a student (“S”) and a teacher (“T”), we read:

S. I ask that you explain this to me word for word and firstly, what is the Church?

T. The Church is a certain convocation and gathering of baptized men who profess the same faith and law of Christ under obedience to the Roman Pontiff. It is called a convocation because we are not born Christians (like we are born either as Italians, or Frenchmen, or of some other nation). We are called by God, and entered this congregation by Baptism, which is like a door of the Church. Still, Baptism alone does not suffice for us to be in the Church; rather, it is necessary to believe and profess the holy faith and law of Christ just as the pastors and preachers of the Church propose. Furthermore, this alone does not suffice, but it is also necessary for us to be in obedience to the Roman Pontiff as the Vicar of Christ, which is to hold him and recognize him as Supreme Head in place of Christ.

S. Seeing that the Church is a congregation of men, why are those buildings in which the Most Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and the other Divine Offices are carried out called “Churches”?

T. This is because the faithful, who are the true Church, are gathered in those buildings to carry out Christian exercises; for that reason they are also called Churches, especially when they are also called Churches, especially when they are dedicated and consecrated by divine worship. Moreover, we do not speak in that part of the Apostle’s Creed on Churches made from stone and wood, but about the living Church, such as the faithful, the baptized and those constituted from the obedience to the Roman Pontiff, as we already said. (Robert Bellarmine, Doctrina Christiana: The Timeless Catechism of St. Robert Bellarmine [trans. Ryan Grant; Mediatrix Press, 2016], 47-48)