"We believe that the Church retains her hierarchy – because this is what we are required to believe." Image: Ghirlandaio, Wiki Commons, Public Domain Is the Catholic Church still apostolic? Many Catholics today hold that Francis and his recent predecessors have not been true successors of St Peter – or at least have only doubtfully …
Continue reading The Apostolicity of the Church – Who are the Successors of the Apostles?
“The atonement is the work of love." Image: Wiki Commons CC Christ’s passion is the great triumph of his incarnation. Dom Columba Marmion writes: “It is the hour wherein Jesus consummates the sacrifice that is to give infinite glory to His Father, to redeem humanity, and reopen to mankind the fountains of everlasting life.”[1] The …
Continue reading Sacrifice and triumph – How does Christ’s passion reconcile us to God?
"In default of the Roman clergy the right will belong to the Church universal." Image: Cardinal Journet, by Armand Niquille, Wiki Commons. Editor's Notes Continuing the series on papal elections in the absence of the Cardinals, we are now publishing (in two parts) Charles Journet’s treatment of papal elections, and of the state of the …
Continue reading Papal elections, including without the Cardinals – Journet & Cajetan
"The clumsiness of the torture that kills was not for him." These notes are not only a continuation of our series Preparation for Tyranny, but also serve as editorial comment on the extract which we published from Fr Henry James Coleridge, on the results of persecution. Image: Cogniet, Wiki Commons One of the most appalling …
Continue reading Preparation for Tyranny: Persecution, Bravado and the Japanese “Hidden Christians”
"In fact, similar situations have been considered by great theologians in history." Image: Pope Martin V consecrating a church. Wiki Commons Editors' Notes This is the first in a series of texts from theologians, which we are publishing on the topic of "Papal elections in extraordinary circumstances", and the related topic of how the Church …
Continue reading Papal elections without the cardinals? – St Robert Bellarmine
"It is absurd, and a detestable shame, that we should suffer those traditions to be changed which we have received from the fathers of old." The Decretals, cited by St Thomas AquinasSumma Theologica, Ia-IIae, Q. 97 A. 2Photo by Thays Orrico on Unsplash In this piece...– What is tradition?– Can abandoned or forbidden practices be …
Continue reading What does Michael Lofton mean by “tradition”?
"The true Church of God must be united, fastened and joined together in one same doctrine and belief" Over the last months, we have made the visible unity of the Church's faith a central theme of a number of essays. In short, the Church is essentially united in her external profession of faith. This is an essential aspect of the property of unity itself. As one of the four notes of the Church recited in the Creed, this unity of faith is a "negative" property in the sense that the true Church of Christ can never lack it. Any society claiming to be the Church of Christ shows itself to be a false claimant if it lacks this unity of faith.
"He that could have transgressed, and hath not transgressed, and could do evil things, and hath not done them." Photo by Fernando Santander on Unsplash Editor's Notes In a previous essay about the kind of heresy that separates a man from the Church, I wrote: Discussions about heresy and membership become confused due to a …
"The Church is visible by reason of the visibility of her members and her organisation. But the edges are very blurred." Objection: Some Catholics profess heretical doctrines in good faith, and they are sometimes called "material heretics." Therefore, the description of the Church's "visible unity" is overly idealised, and arguments about heresy and membership based …
Continue reading Should mistaken Catholics be called “material heretics”?
"I am the priest whom he intends to prepare him for death."