Bishop Athanasius Schneider - Loyal Opposition

Is Bishop Athanasius Schneider our Saint John Fisher?

I'm not joking.

If he isn't, he is one of a small number of faithful clergy prepared to stand up to the destruction of the Bergoglian pontificate.

Perhaps we can add George Cardinal Pell to that list as well as those pictured above as he recently warned us against the "suicidal synod".

Bishop Scheider is amazing in his faith and consistency. He is knowledgeable and wise. He brings light, not heat and he has incredible courage, confidently pointing out the errors of Pope Francis to his face. 

I found this interview extremely comforting, coming as it does at a time when the pope himself is persecuting Catholics precisely because he does not want them to adhere to what the Church has always taught. In other words, Francis unambiguously rejects the foundation of Faith and demands that everyone else does the same if they want to remain in the Church — it does not take a great theologian to recognise just how serious the situation is.

In response, Bishop Schneider presents us with an imitation of Jesus. With all the confusion and pain of this papacy it is such a blessing to hear this much needed guidance. Schneider admonishes us to pray for the pope, never leave the Church or her pope, even when we have to correct him in charity. That is Catholicism. He also calls us to resist and to confront and to persist in the obvious Catholic stuff we love.

Perhaps the most frustrating dimension to this papacy is the way pope Francis just stops short from giving bishops “irrefutable” evidence of his formal heresy. Instead of merely rejecting a single point of Faith, he rejects countless Catholic truths and the entire basis for the Faith. And, increasingly, he demands that all Catholics do the same. But, because he does not convince the bishops that he has definitely fallen into formal heresy, he can continue until there is nothing left to destroy. Perhaps because he wants to continue inflicting as much damage on the Church as possible, or, as he may see it, effect as much irrevocable change as possible.

Personally, I feel the situation is untenable. Further delay can only result in greater and greater damage. If bishops have a duty to remove a pope who has fallen into formal heresy on a single point of Faith, it should be patently obvious that they have an even more pressing duty to remove a pope who has been successfully destroying the Church the way that Francis has. We can see this clearly if we simply consider the principles set forth in the Open Letter to the Bishops of the Catholic Church drafted by a number of prominent theologians and professors:

“It is agreed that the evil of a heretical pope is so great that it should not be tolerated for the sake of some allegedly greater good. Suarez expresses this consensus as follows: 'It would be extremely harmful to the Church to have such a pastor and not be able to defend herself from such a grave danger; furthermore it would go against the dignity of the Church to oblige her to remain subject to a heretic Pontiff without being able to expel him from herself; for such as are the prince and the priest, so the people are accustomed to be.' St Robert Bellarmine states: 'Wretched would be the Church’s condition if she were forced to take as her pastor one who manifestly conducts himself as a wolf' (Controversies, 3rd controversy, Bk. 2, cap. 30).”

If this is true in the case of a heretical pope, it is even more true with Francis who is not only heretical but, in the words of Gerhard Cardinal Müller, is also leading a hostile takeover of the Church:

“This occupation of the Catholic Church is a hostile takeover of the Church of Jesus Christ . . . And if you look at only one page, or read one page of the Gospel, you'll see that it has nothing to do with Jesus Christ.”

Bishops who think they can do nothing significant to resolve this disastrous situation do not seem to place much confidence in God. If the Saint Gallen Mafia could come together to achieve Satan’s nefarious aims, why should genuinely Catholic bishops hesitate to gather with the firm resolution of discerning and performing God’s will as faithfully as possible? If it is not God’s will to remove Francis, then at least they will have done all they could and, if nothing else, can better guide their flocks in these dark days.