Letter #76: The Bux Interview

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Letter #76: The Bux Interview

[2018-11-19]

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November 18, 2018, Sunday

“They seek their own interests, not the interests of Jesus Christ; they proclaim His word, but spread their own ideas.” —St. Augustine (354-430 A.D.), referring to heretical theologians during the late 4th and early 5th centuries. The words are cited by Catholic theologian Fr. Nicola Bux in an October 13 interview on the present state of the Church

Benedict's 2013 Resignation, Concerns about the Possible Abrogation of Summorum Pontificum (which in 2007 confirmed the universal right of all Catholic priests to celebrate Mass according to the Old Liturgy), and the Possible Dangers of a Proposal to Designate a List of "Official" Catholic Writers and Bloggers

Three significant stories have flown "under the radar" (to a certain extent) in recent days.

They deserve greater attention.

(#1) The question of Benedict XVI's 2013 resignation in the context of widespread concerns about seemingly heretical ruptures with traditional Catholic orthodox teaching in recent years (link to the original Italian interview, link to Edward Pentin's brief summary in English; and link to a slightly more extended treatment by Debra Heine).

[Note: on my computer, when I try to go to the Pentin link, I receive a warning in bright red with the words "Deceptive site ahead"(!); you have to click on "Details" and then, after the words, at the end, you have to click on "if you understand the risks to your security, visit this unsafe site"; I did visit the site because I wanted to read the article; but all this was very strange to me; it is the first time it has happened in any of my searches for Church news on various Catholic websites that I have been warned that the site is "deceptive"; it appears that Pentin's site is being treated by certain browsers, or search engines, as "deceptive"; I do not know more about this matter; if you wish, take a look for yourself... if you are willing to "risk" a visit to Pentin's blog.]

The first story is already more than a month old. It emerged in an October 13 interview granted by Fr. Nicola Bux, a conservative Italian Catholic theologian and liturgy expert to Italian Catholic journalist Aldo Maria Valli (the same Aldo Maria Valli who talked at length with Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano just before Vigano published his explosive Testament on the night of August 25, now almost three months ago).

What is important about this story?

The fact that Bux, generally regarded as a thoughtful, competent thinker — a priest of the Archdiocese of Bari, he is a professor of eastern liturgy and sacramental theology who has studied and taught in Jerusalem and in Rome; under Benedict's papacy he was a consultor to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, and still is a consultor for the Congregation for the Causes of Saints — points to the issue of the nature and legitimacy of Pope Benedict XVI's 2013 decision to resign the papacy as something that may need further study.

Over the past five and a half years since the resignation, most serious Catholic theologians have avoided giving any sort of credence to questions about the legitimacy or nature of Benedict's abdication out of a desire not to "de-stabilize" the Church's government in any way.

But Bux, in a rather tentative yet unmistakable way, is raising the matter as one of legitimate doctrinal concern. This seems new.

(#2) Is it possible that some prelates could be planning and working for the abrogation of Summorum Pontificum?

The second story concerns a "trial balloon" recently launched in Italy which some are interpreting as a "preliminary test" to judge whether it might not be opportune in the not-too-distant future — perhaps after Benedict XVI dies (he is now 91) — to "abrogate" his 2007 Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum. Here is a link to a OnePeterFive story on the matter.

I do not think such an "abrogation" would be legitimate if attempted, nor do I think it would be right or good to suppress the old rite completely — as some evidently wish to do — but some observers are now suggesting there is support for such an effort.

Clearly, such an attempted abrogation would be a rupture with the thinking and wishes of Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI.

(#3) The Possible Dangers of a Proposal to Designate a List of "Official" Catholic Writers and Bloggers (link)

(after the ad here below, the Bux interview)

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Theologian Calls for Examination of Validity of Pope Benedict’s XVI’s Resignation

Monsignor Nicola Bux: "Unity is made in truth"

by Aldo Maria Valli

October 13, 2018

(Note: Translation from the original Italian is my own.—RM)

The issue of sexual abuse in the Church has somewhat displaced the debate on Amoris laetitia and on all that followed about the adherence of the magisterium to right doctrine.

But, as is obvious, the issues are connected.

Therefore, it seems appropriate to resume the thread of the discussion and we do it with a specialist, Monsignor Nicola Bux, theological consultor of the Congregation for the Causes of the Saints, after having been a consultor for the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith, for the Congregation of Divine Worship and for the Office of Pontifical Celebrations.

The author, among numerous other books, of the essay Peter Loves and Unites: The Pope's Responsibility for the Universal Church (Edizioni Studio Domenicano), Monsignor Bux has just returned to Italy from Argentina, where, in Buenos Aires, he was invited to the XXI Encuentro de formacion catolica, on the theme of The Liturgy: Fount and Expression of the Faith.

Don Nicola, "heresy" and "schism" — words that seemed to have disappeared from the Catholic vocabulary — are returning to the center of many analyses on the current situation of the Church. Could we begin by assessing the status quaestionis [the "state of the question"] after Amoris laetitia and the debate which ensued?

Monsignor Nicola Bux: It seems to me that after the publication, on September 24, 2017, of the Correctio filialis de haeresibus propagatis ("Filial Correction concerning the propagation of heresies"), and after the Declaration promulgated in Rome by the conference of April 7 this year, where Cardinal (Walter) Brandmüller and Cardinal (Raymond) Burke spoke, the idea that the Pope himself, in his magisterium, has slipped into heretical affirmations, is now at the center of a vast debate, which is becoming more and more passionate each day.

At the origin of this vast debate is the apostolic exhortation Amoris laetitia, in which — according to the 40 signatories of the Correctio (which in the meantime went up to 250, not counting the thousands of adhesions linked to the initiative) — may be found as many as seven heretical propositions concerning marriage, the moral life and the reception of the sacraments.

And the problems, at least as far as Amoris laetitia is concerned, have become considerably aggravated and complicated.

As is well known, the letter of Pope Francis to the Argentine bishops of the Buenos Aires region and the criteria indicated by the latter for access to communion by the divorced and newly married, have been published in Acta Apostolicae Sedis, accompanied by a note ex audientia SS.mi ["from an audience with the Holy Father"] of the cardinal Secretary of State, who, on the approval of the Pope, considers these two previous documents as an expression of the "authentic magisterium" of the current Pope and, therefore, as a magisterium to which Catholics must grant pious respect of intellect and will.

At the same time, Cardinal Brandmüller, one of the four cardinals of the dubia (the others are Burke, Meisner and Caffarra, the last two now deceased) in an article has proposed the idea, which I also have proposed, that the Pope should issue a profession of faith [to clarify the situation].

In this regard, Don Nicola, also in the light of the statements of Cardinal (Gerhard) Müller on the need for a public disputatio on Amoris laetitia, and the words of the Secretary of State of the Holy See, Cardinal Parolin, according to which "within the Church it is important to dialogue," is it realistic to imagine that we may receive an answer from the Pope and that he may make a "profession of faith" to dispel all doubts and confusion?

Monsignor Nicola Bux: The authentic unity of the Church is made by and in the truth. The Church was placed by the Founder -- He who said: "I am the truth" -- as "the pillar and foundation of truth" (1 Tim 3:15).

Without the truth there is no unity, and charity would be a fiction.

The idea that the Church is a federation of ecclesial communities, a bit like the Protestant communities, would make it difficult for the Pope to make a profession of Catholic faith.

In fact, after the last two synods, a faith and a morality have come forth that we could characterize as, to say the least, at "two speeds": the evidence of this is that in some places it is not possible to give communion to the divorced and remarried, and in others it is possible. Not a few bishops and parish priests, therefore, are in great embarrassment, because of an unstable and confused pastoral situation.

This being so, it seems realistic to think of creating a "table" within the Church, to understand what is Catholic and what is not: a doctrinal discussion, on which pastoral practice would depend.

Doctrinal development always benefits from debate.

The example comes from Joseph Ratzinger, who first as Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, then as Pope, received various dissenting theologians, discussing with them.

And if there is no discussion?

Monsignor Nicola Bux: I fear that the apostasy will deepen and the de facto schism will grow.

Precisely a process of rational and charitable discussion within the Church would make necessary a profession of faith by the Pope, with the abjuration, evidently, of any errors and erroneous opinions declared up to that moment, to reaffirm the Catholic faith as a model, a rule of belief for every Catholic.

By the way, this situation has become even more urgent as a result of the latest novelties introduced by the Pope, such as the definition of the death penalty as "against the Gospel."

A definition arrived at in a debatable way, changing an article of the Catechism of the Catholic Church according to a a decidedly historicist vision.

This poses a series of problems. Also of personal conscience. Especially since the previous catechisms, I think of the Roman or Tridentine or the so-called Major Catechism of St. Pius X, taught the legitimacy of capital punishment and its full conformity to Divine Revelation.

The Tridentine catechism even defined the norm that allowed the state authority to impose a just punishment, not excluding even capital punishment, on an offender, guilty of serious crimes, as a part of "divine law."

So the problems, as I said, are serious, because either we have to admit that the Church has taught the legitimacy of something anti-evangelical practically for 2,000 years, or we must admit that Pope Francis has erred, considering against the Gospel something that, on the contrary, is, at least on the level of principle, in conformity with Revelation.

The question is very delicate. But sooner or later it must be faced.

And the question of capital punishment is not the only such question.

Many people ask: if the Pope feels himself free to change an article of the Catechism according to the changing needs of the People of God or the different sensibilities of today, can he do it with regard to other points as well, even more important ones?

Monsignor Nicola Bux: It is a very worrisome question. It is a legitimate concern to wish to preserve the depositum fidei unharmed from the contingent sensibilities of society, today or tomorrow.

Returning to the initial question, what is needed is a profession of faith similar to that made by Paul VI in 1968, in order to reaffirm what is Catholic, in the face of the errors and heresies that spread immediately after the Second Vatican Council, especially because of the publication of the Dutch Catechism.

In our case, however, it would be a matter of reaffirming certain truths about the sacraments, morality and the social doctrine of the Church, and likewise of rejecting any doubtful or erroneous opinion that may have spread, even involuntarily, on these issues.

Some have observed that the initiative of the Correctio, though dramatic, is not new, because already in the times of John Paul II and Benedict XVI, and even before, under Paul VI, there were petitions made by theologians, clerics and laity, both individual and organized. It was the position of scholars who believed that the Second Vatican Council, in its anti-dogmatism, had introduced a break with the previous Church, and they accused those pontiffs of centralism and non-openness to the requirements of modernity. Do you find what happened then like what is happening today?

Monsignor Nicola Bux: No, because that was a non-Catholic attack on Catholic teaching. In a similar way, though from the opposite perspective, other theologians and laymen, who harbored suspicions about the Council, expressed their opposition even to healthy innovations. In both cases, it was a protest and not a correction.

Today's Church leaders, placed in the key posts of the ecclesiastical establishment, keep silent, never entering into the merits of the heresies that are challenged, in particular, in the apostolic exhortation Amoris laetitia.

It should be remembered that St. Pius X, in the encyclical Pascendi, warned that never clearly confessing any heresy is the behavior typical of modernists, because in this way they can hide themselves inside the Church.

But why in your opinion would a profession of faith be helpful? And if the Pope, as all signs indicate, will not do it, what could happen?

Monsignor Nicola Bux: In Gratian's Decretals (pars I, Dist. 40, chapter VI) there is this canon: "No mortal will presume to speak of the guilt of the Pope, since, charged with judging everyone, he must not be judged by anyone, unless he deviates from the faith."

A distancing and deviation from the faith is called "heresy," a word that comes from the Greek "airesis" and means the choice and absolutization of a truth, minimizing or denying the others that are in the category of Catholic truths (remember in this regard that (Hans Urs) von Balthasar wrote an essay entitled "Truth is Symphonic").

Obviously, the deviation must be manifest and public. And in the case of manifest heresy, according to St. Robert Bellarmine, the Pope can be judged.

Bellarmine was also Prefect of the Holy Office, a figure whose function is precisely to watch over the respect for orthodoxy in the faith by all, including the Pope, who is also the first to have to carry out such an oversight.

The Pope is called by the Lord to preach the Catholic faith, but to do so he must prove he is able to defend it.

The Orthodox -- the Christians of the East separated from Rome -- are so-called precisely because they have emphasized the primacy of true faith as a condition of the true Church. Otherwise the Church ceases to be a pillar and foundation of truth. Consequently, whoever does not defend the true faith falls from any Church office, patriarchal, eparchal, etc.

Excuse me, Fr Nicola, are you saying that in a case of heresy, just as a heretical Christian ceases to be a member of the Church, even the Pope would cease to be Pope and head of the ecclesial body, and would lose all jurisdiction?

Monsignor Nicola Bux: Yes, heresy affects the faith and the status of member of the Church, which are the root and foundation of jurisdiction.

This is the thought of the Fathers of the Church, especially Cyprian, who dealt with Novatian, anti-Pope during the pontificate of Pope Cornelius (cf. Lib 4, ep 2).

Every faithful, including the Pope, if he embraces heresy, separates himself from the unity of the Church.

It is well known that the Pope is at the same time a member and a part of the Church, because the hierarchy is within and not above the Church, as stated in Lumen gentium (No. 18).

Faced with this eventuality, so serious for the faith, some cardinals, or even the Roman clergy or the Roman synod, could admonish the Pope with fraternal correction, could "resist him in the face" as Paul did with Peter at Antioch; they could refute him and, if necessary, call on him to repent. Should the Pope be pertinacious in error, it would be necessary to distance oneself from him, in accordance with what the Apostle says (see Titus 3: 10-11). Furthermore, his heresy and his unwillingness to repent should be declared publicly, so that he might not cause harm to others and so that everyone may protect themselves.

If a heresy were well-known and made public, the Pope would ipso facto lose his pontificate.

For theology and canon law, the pertinacious heretic is someone who questions a truth of faith consciously and voluntarily, that is, with the full awareness that this truth is a dogma and with the full adherence of the will.

I note that one can have obstinacy or pertinacity in a sin of heresy committed even simply due to weakness.

Moreover, if the Pope did not want to maintain union and communion with the whole body of the Church, as when he tried to excommunicate the whole Church or to subvert the liturgical rites based on the apostolic tradition, he could be schismatic.

If the Pope does not behave like a Pope and head of the Church, neither is the Church in him nor is he in the Church.

By disobeying the law of Christ, or by ordering what is contrary to natural or divine law, what has been universally ordained by the Councils or the Apostolic See, the Pope separates himself from Christ, who is the chief head of the Church and in relation to whom the ecclesial unity is constituted.

Pope Innocent III says that the Pope must be obeyed in everything, until he turns against the universal order of the Church: in this case, unless there is a reasonable cause, he should not be followed, because, behaving thus, it is no longer subject to Christ and therefore separates from the body of the Church.

I do not hide, however, that what I have said, although clear and simple in theory, in practice meets many difficulties; disadvantages also of a canonical nature.

If we should ever reach such a point, what would be the consequences for the faith and for the Church?

Monsignor Nicola Bux: Whoever wants to be Pope cannot deny the Catholic truth; on the contrary, he must adhere to it in full if he wants to claim the magisterial authority.

That is what Ratzinger wrote years ago, stressing that the Pope cannot "impose his own opinion," but must "recall precisely the fact that the Church cannot do what she wants and that even he, indeed, precisely the Pope, does not have the faculty to do it" because "in matters of faith and sacraments, as concerning the fundamental problems of morality" the Church can only "consent to the will of Christ."

In the case of opposition between the text of a papal document and other testimonies of Tradition, it is permissible for a well-educated believer, who has carefully studied the matter, to suspend or deny his consent to the document itself.

Sursa: www.InsideTheVatican.com

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