Unpacking Benedict’s resignation: What if Francis isn’t the pope after all? ~ John Henry Westen

[Michael]

Unpacking Benedict’s resignation: What if Francis isn’t the pope after all?

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On today's episode of The John-Henry Westen Show, I ask Dr. Edmund Mazza to unpack the controversy and confusion surrounding the 2013 resignation of Pope Benedict XVI, as well as the implications for Francis' papacy if it were invalid.

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(LifeSiteNews) — On today’s episode of The John-Henry Westen Show, I ask Dr. Edmund Mazza, a professor of Church history, to unpack the controversy and confusion surrounding the 2013 resignation of Pope Benedict XVI and address the potential implications for Francis’s papacy if the resignation were invalid.

This is a dense episode — Dr. Mazza dives deep into the subject with remarkable aplomb — but it’s a fascinating one you won’t want to miss. Here’s a taste of what you’ll be getting:

Well, believe it or not, Canon Law, Canon 188, says that when someone in the Church resigns from their office, one of the things that would invalidate that resignation is something called substantial error. It’s when your intellect has an erroneous idea of the object that you were choosing, that your will is choosing. Well, if your intellect presents an erroneous object to your will and your will chooses it, your will is not free […] If Benedict thought he could resign the active ministry of the papacy, but somehow still remain papal [in the passive sense, not in the active sense], and was able to offer up his sufferings and prayers in an ontological connection to the munus [ministry or service] that belongs to St. Peter…

Listen to the rest of today’s episode below:

Unpacking Benedict’s resignation: What if Francis isn’t the pope af...