Did Pope John Paul II's apparently infallible "prescribe any method for the election of his successor" in stating that Canon 333 § 2 was how a pope was to resign mean that Francis is an antipope because Pope Benedict XVI was in "substantial error" and therefore "not free"?
SUPREME PONTIFF
APOSTOLIC CONSTITUTION
UNIVERSI DOMINICI GREGIS
ON THE VACANCY
OF THE APOSTOLIC SEE
AND THE ELECTION
OF THE ROMAN PONTIF...
The following is from a Catholic Monitor reader:
Bergoglio is not pope simply because Benedict XVI does not abdicate the office. If this questioning of the office is a goal of the cardinals, then they will be more successful. Because the [Pope John Paul II's] Universi Dominici Gregis says that it is necessary to abdicate according to Canon Law 32:2. Failure to comply on this point will lead to the conclusion in Article 76:
"In the event that the election is made in a manner other than that prescribed in this Constitution or without the conditions set forth herein having been observed, such election is therefore null and void, without the need for any declaration, and therefore confers no right on the person elected." [https://www.thecatholicmonitor.com/2023/09/are-1p5-gaspers-feser-their.html]
Comments