(LifeSiteNews) — We are in the midst of the Synod on Synodality, a storm we have seen coming for years. We are all well aware of the potential problems it will present to Catholics and the potential challenges to defined dogma. Strong Catholic leaders have already stood up to fight, as we saw with a new set of dubia this week. Yet how do we join them in the fight against the modernist revolution in the Church?
Joining me on this episode of The John-Henry Westen Show is Michael Matt of The Remnant to discuss his plan to “unite the clans” and help confused Catholics navigate this confusing time. He also offers his take on whether Francis is the pope or not.
Matt’s solution to “unite the clans” is, to him, not “overcomplicated.” While some would think that such a solution would entail Fraternity of St. Peter (FSSP) priests, Society of St. Pius X (SSPX) priests, sedevacantists, and others to unite for success, Matt offers a simpler solution, based on the etymology of the word “clan.” To Matt, uniting the “clans” simply entails uniting families and the broader Christian family around the world.
“Unite the clans is basically a question of what are we called to do before God with respect to Christian charity. We’re called to do everything we possibly can to unite,” Matt explains. “And if we do that, if we don’t let things like disagreements, internecine squabbling, get in the way of bringing us all together as Christian men and women, we’re going to become a force to be reckoned with.”
From Matt’s perspective, good Catholic families have already become that “force,” simply by standing together and holding every infallible teaching of the Church. Offering proof of this, he points to Traditiones Custodes.
From there we discuss the possibility that Francis is an antipope, something discussed on an episode of Faith & Reason last month.
According to Matt, declaring Francis an antipope would reduce our influence on this moment of Catholic history by removing our voices from the conversation and the attempt to “undermine” what’s happening at the Vatican.
“What we want right now is for rightful authority to exercise the maximum influence to… stop what’s happening in the Vatican,” Matt says.
“If we began going off half-cocked too soon, well, the Cardinal Müllers of the world, the Bishop Schneiders, the Bishop Stricklands, they’re going to pull back,” he stresses, adding that doing so would destroy the most organized opposition to Francis’ agenda yet seen. He also says that while people like him in the news business can say Francis is no longer pope or that he never was, then he can continue to do his work. If, however, Bishop Schneider does, he’s “done,” and if Cardinal Müller does, he is no longer a cardinal, as Francis elevated him to the cardinalate.
Matt also warns that traditionalists may play into Francis’ hands by declaring him an antipope, since Francis could then point to us and say, “Well look at those crazy traditionalists! I’m the one in white!”
“He can look at the entire world and say, ‘Is there a pope?’, and the whole world says, ‘Yes, there is a pope.’ ‘Who is the pope?’ ‘You are, Francis,’” Matt says.
“He looks at us, and we say he’s not the pope, he says, ‘Who cares?’ So what have we done? We’ve minimized our ability to put pressure on the Vatican, because we’re all talking about the next conclave now,” Matt continues. In Matt’s opinion, while the next conclave is our “best hope,” we ought to help the cardinals and bishops opposing Francis, and that those unsure of the validity of the Francis pontificate should “stick with what unites us and support these guys, these priests and prelates, who are putting pressure on the Vatican.”
“Going off… half-cocked… may not be God’s will at all,” he warns.
Venturing into the theology behind the question of the Francis pontificate, Matt relates a story of a friend of his who argued that Francis lost his office due to heresy, citing the Pachamama scandal. When the friend was pressured to name the dogma that Francis denied, he could not. Matt further brought up the example of St. John Paul II kissing the Koran to prove the point, emphasizing that the saintly pontiff may not have known what he was doing. In Matt’s opinion, Francis “plays both sides” since we don’t know if he denies a point of faith or not.
Opining on the issue of specific instances when Francis is supposed to have affirmed something heretical, Matt recommends speaking with a theologian on the matter. However, reiterating his earlier point, Matt maintains that declaring Francis did or said something heretical reduces potential influence with confused Catholics.
On the point of heresy, Matt also states that for someone to be called a heretic, one must prove “pertinacity,” something he believes the original “dubia cardinals” attempted to do with Amoris Laetitia.
“The main thing that we have to understand as far as declaring a pope has lost his office through heresy, is there’s a canonical process,” Matt stresses. “He has the right to a defense, just like we would in regular jurisprudence.”
“He has to be informed that he’s a heretic, that what he said is heretical, and then he has to remain [pertinacious],” Matt continues.
Offering an historical example, Matt points to Pope John XXII, who denied that the blessed in heaven have the Beatific Vision and asserted they will not have it until the end of time – something which up to that point was not taught as a defined dogma of the faith, but held as proximate to the faith, if not of the faith, by theologians.
“So the question is, we all agree that… Pope John XXII… publicly taught a heretical proposition… and that he held to it and it was official. Did he lose his office during the time from when he first made this heretical proclamation to the time that he recanted, which he did towards the end of his life?” Matt asks. Answering the question, he tells me he spoke with multiple theologians on the issue, all of whom agree that John XXII never lost his office due to heresy.
Stay tuned for Part 2 of my conversation with Michael Matt airing next week on The John-Henry Westen Show.
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