Canon 212- "Dr. Mazza: Benedict clearly thinks he’s still some kind of Pope. That means he didn’t really quit"
Dr. Mazza: Benedict clearly thinks he’s still some kind of pope. That means he didn’t really quit. - Canon 212 headline
Here’s another interesting quote, I’ll try to weave this in. The very month, February 2013, when Pope Benedict makes this renunciation. Gianfranco Ghirlanda, a Jesuit, the former rector of the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, and a very highly respected doctor of law, in of all publications it was Cattolica Civilta, the Jesuit- [La Civilta Cattolica]...
... He says that Ratzinger”s view of the sacramental ontological munus, when applied to the juridical office of the Bishop of Rome, is going to create major problems. Let me give you his exact words. “The greatest difficulty that arises from the affirmation, that the primacial power of the Roman pontiff comes from his Episcopal consecration and not from the acceptance of the election, would be that in the event that the pope resigned from his office, not because of death, he would never lose the power as it is conferred by a sacramental act, which has an indelible character.” Well, this is precisely what Benedict has stated in his interviews with Peter Seewald, why he’s Pope Emeritus, and not simply Bishop Emeritus, or Cardinal. It’s why he still issues apostolic blessings in his own name and why his proper form of address is still His Holiness, but here’s the wrinkle. Ghirlanda and other candidates and theologians not to mention centuries of saints and scholars hold that Ratzinger is just plain wrong and that’s not how it works.
He’s just wrong. Here’s the problem, if Ratzinger had ever been convinced of the real truth of the matter, I argue, he likely, would never have renounced the papacy, seeing as how committed he is to fulfilling his Petrine vow and living only for the Lord and his flock. So what do you call this? This is called substantial error. When your will chooses something based on the fact that your intellect has bad information. This is the theory that I personally hold to, why I think his resignation, or his renunciation was invalid. And I can go into more detail on that. - Dr. Edmund Mazza
In an interview on PCM, renowned Catholic historian Dr. Edmund Mazza, a former full professor of history at Azuza Pacific University, said that "if Ratzinger [Pope Benedict XVI] had ever been convinced of the real truth of the matter, I argue, he likely, would never have renounced the papacy, seeing as how committed he is to fulfilling his Petrine vow and living only for the Lord and his flock. So what do you call this? This is called substantial error. When your will chooses something based on the fact that your intellect has bad information. This is the theory that I personally hold to, why I think his resignation, or his renunciation was invalid":
There’s been several book-length interviews between the German journalist Peter Seewald and Pope Benedict. I mean going back to when he was Cardinal Ratzinger...
... Seewald puts this question to Pope Benedict. He says is a slow down in the ability to perform, reason enough to climb down from the chair of Peter? And Instead of saying yes, next question. Benedict responds “One can of course make that accusation, but it would be a functional misunderstanding. The follower of Peter is not merely bound to a function. The office enters into your very being. In this regard fulfilling a function is not the only criterion.” What misunderstanding and what is all this about function? He repeats the word three times. A simple “yes” would do. But Benedict doesn’t give a yes or no answer to a simple question. All the more bizarre, since his answer in fact must be a “yes”. Otherwise he’s contradicting the very reason he gave for stepping down in his official resignation speech, if you follow me. So something is off...
... It would be a functional misunderstanding. What do you mean “misunderstanding”? You gave us that excuse, for leaving the papacy. So it forces us to figure out what does he mean by “function” And what does he mean when he says that the munus enters into your very being. You see were back to ontology again, if we haven’t lost anybody...
... Benedict in his declaratio is stipulating, like a lawyer, that, “Yes, I’m going to give up the active exercise of the papacy. I no longer have the strength to do the active stuff, but I’m stipulating that I’m only leaving to become Pope Emeritus”. Not even Bishop Emeritus, he’s leaving as Pope Emeritus. Then of course he gave talks. After February 11th, he gave a talk at one of his last general audiences, where he says that, “I no longer return to private life.”
He basically says whoever accepts the Petrine Ministry, it’s a forever, it’s an always. So how do we understand that? So I did a deep dive into how does he understand munus. And what I discovered is that Vatican II, surprise, surprise, introduced a new wrinkle into how we understand priesthood, episcopacy and even the papacy. So let me give you a brief quote from Vatican II...
... It goes like this “Without higherarchical communion the sacramental ontological munus, which ought to be distinguished from the canonical juridical aspect, cannot be exercised”. Now let me break that down for the average person in the pew. In other words, what Vatican II is saying is that when you are consecrated a bishop you are given a sacramental, which means that you can never get rid of it, ontological meaning it’s transcendent, munus. What does munus mean here? It means a gift that allows service.
How’s the best way of expressing this? Vatican II talks about this in Gaudiaum et spes: Christ has three munira. To teach, to sanctify and to govern. The priests and bishops, and for that matter, the pope, what do they do? They teach, they sanctify and they govern and these are the three munira or the munis’...
... That is distinguished from the canonical, canon law, juridical law aspect. It’s like this. Traditionally the church has understood that there is something called potestas ordinis, which is the sacred power to teach to govern and sanctify; that a priest or a bishop gets when they are ordained or consecrated. That is directly from God. You never lose it, but because you can lose it. Like you said a priest who gets de-frocked, or a pope who resigns. Like Pope Celestine, back in the Middle Ages, they would no longer have their munus, their office.
So there must be something, another aspect to the munus besides the sacramental ontological, or you would never lose it, if you follow what I mean. There are also theologians that tell us, Thomas Aquinas, Bellarmine and Vatican I, they tell us that there is also the canonical juridical aspect. So in other words a bishop becomes the Bishop of Los Angeles, New York, or wherever, Paris. That is a grant of authority given to him by the Pope, by the church, which is separate from the munus that was given to him when he was consecrated a bishop, and somehow the two work together.
Vatican II says that without hierarchical communion, without being in union with the pope and the Catholic bishops, the sacramental ontological munus or the potestas ordinis, which is distinguished from the canonical juridical aspect, which we were just talking about, it cannot be exercised. At consecration you’re given the gift, the munus, to teach, to sanctify and to govern, but you’re not allowed to exercise that unless you’re in hierarchical communion, unless the pope has given you a canonical juridical office...
... Through my research what I’ve discovered is that Joseph Ratzinger, the darling of the parity of Vatican II, and of the post-Vatican II church, he is on record on multiple occasions as saying that what really counts is your sacramental, ontological munus, and not the canonical juridical office, if you will. Let me explain why this is important. The devil’s in the details, so to speak...
... Canon law, as it is generally understood is pretty simple. It says Canon 332 part 2, says “If it happens that the Roman Pontiff renounces his office… “In the original Latin, of the 1983 code of Canon law, the word is munus. If it happens that the Roman Pontiff renounces his munus, it is required for validity that the renunciation is made freely, and be properly manifested.” You know, which is why he gave a declartio on February 11th 2013, but not that it be accepted by anyone at all. It’s not like the pope has to turn in his resignation to a superior. He has no superior. The key thing here is, again he has to renounce his munus, his office. But, now we get back to the sacramental ontological munus versus the canonical juridical munus, if you will. Let me introduce a quote from Joseph Ratzinger from Principles of Catholic theology from 1987, available from Ignatius press. Basically he says, “I disagree with those who teach that “The papacy is not a sacrament that it is only a juridical institution, but this juridical institution has set itself above the sacramental order.”
Let me unpack that. Razinger is arguing that what’s important foremost is the sacramental ontological munus not the “office” that perhaps comes and goes. Obviously, Benedict ruffled a number of feathers with his renunciation and his taking on the office of Pope Emeritus, right? For example, Cardinal Walter Brandmuller, one of the dubia fathers, was very upset. Roberto De Matei, Dr. Matei was upset and Dr. Matei went on record saying, “look there is no such thing as a sacramental papacy. It is only a juridical institution.” Yet we have this quote. And, why is that? You could never lose it if it was sacramental, but you can lose it if it is just a juridical office...
... What does Joseph Ratzinger say? He says, “No, no, no. “I disagree with those people who say the papacy is not a sacrament, that it’s only a juridical institution. That juridical institution has set itself above the sacramental order.” Now here is another quote from Ratzinger right after the counsel. This is from his book Theological highlights of Vatican II, Published 1966 by Paulist Press.
Again another money line. “The ministry of the bishop, meaning munus in Latin is not an externally assigned administrative power, but rather, is itself sacramentally-based. The ruling of the church and its spiritual mystery are inseparable.”
Here’s another interesting quote, I’ll try to weave this in. The very month, February 2013, when Pope Benedict makes this renunciation. Gianfranco Ghirlanda, a Jesuit, the former rector of the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, and a very highly respected doctor of law, in of all publications it was Cattolica Civilta, the Jesuit- [La Civilta Cattolica]...
... He says that Ratzinger”s view of the sacramental ontological munus, when applied to the juridical office of the Bishop of Rome, is going to create major problems. Let me give you his exact words. “The greatest difficulty that arises from the affirmation, that the primacial power of the Roman pontiff comes from his Episcopal consecration and not from the acceptance of the election, would be that in the event that the pope resigned from his office, not because of death, he would never lose the power as it is conferred by a sacramental act, which has an indelible character.” Well, this is precisely what Benedict has stated in his interviews with Peter Seewald, why he’s Pope Emeritus, and not simply Bishop Emeritus, or Cardinal. It’s why he still issues apostolic blessings in his own name and why his proper form of address is still His Holiness, but here’s the wrinkle. Ghirlanda and other candidates and theologians not to mention centuries of saints and scholars hold that Ratzinger is just plain wrong and that’s not how it works.
He’s just wrong. Here’s the problem, if Ratzinger had ever been convinced of the real truth of the matter, I argue, he likely, would never have renounced the papacy, seeing as how committed he is to fulfilling his Petrine vow and living only for the Lord and his flock. So what do you call this? This is called substantial error. When your will chooses something based on the fact that your intellect has bad information. This is the theory that I personally hold to, why I think his resignation, or his renunciation was invalid. And I can go into more detail on that. [https://www.thecatholicmonitor.com/2021/10/exclusive-transcription-is-benedict-xvi.html and https://www.thecatholicmonitor.com/2021/10/part-2-of-exclusive-transcription-is.html]
The Catholic Monitor's transcription in four parts. Here are links:
Mazza-Coffin Transcription PART 1
Mazza-Coffin Transcription PART 2
Mazza-Coffin Transcription PART 3
Mazza-Coffin Transcription PART 4
Pray an Our Father now for reparation for the sins committed because of Francis's Amoris Laetitia.