I don't see how any Catholic would be legit if they honestly believed Francis wasn't a heretic. Most people who consider themselves Catholic yet still call Francis a Pope are ignorant or in major denial and/or deception, or don't know where to turn. They are receiving sacraments from doubful priests who subscribe to a non-Catholic religion and are in communion with an an antichrist anti-pope.
The most logical position a Catholic can take is the sedevacantist position which is what I've come to realize. Sedevacantists hold that that the Chair of Peter is vacant and has been vacant for quite some time. A manifest heretic can't be Pope because a manifest heretic is automatically excommunicated. Most sedes agree that the last true Pope was Pope Pius XII and he died in the late 1950s before the Vatican II Council opened.
For people who say the Gates of Hell have prevailed, well, they obviously don't know any history about the Catholic Church which has been going for 2000 years. There was a time when three different men claimed they were the Pope at the same time. This was know as the Great Western Schism. It lasted for decades, but was eventually sorted out and determined who the true Popes and antipopes were. There is also the Arian heresy. About 80% of the Church believed in the Arian heresy. This too lasted for decades. There are many other crises, but those usually come to mind in comparison to what has/is happened in the past 50 years. However, this crisis within the past 50 years and counting is way worse than anything ever to happen to the Church. It is unprecedent in Church history. It was prophesied by multiple Saints. There is massive confusion and deception because there is no Pope currently but a false counter church claiming to be the Catholic Church with their anti-popes.
“The Church will be in eclipse, the world will be in dismay. Our Lady of La Salette 19 Sept. 1846 (Published by Mélanie 1879)
The Church will yield to large persecution, a time of darkness and the Church will witness a frightful crisis. Our Lady of La Salette 19 Sept. 1846 (Published by Mélanie 1879)
I’m Orthodox, so my particular ecclesiology is that the Local Church, headed by a particular right-believing Bishop, is the basic complete unit of the Church, and a Synod of right-believing Bishops is the highest authority under Christ. The contemporary “Roman Catholic” faith puts a man - the Pope - in an Office which the Orthodox (rightly) believe is occupied by Christ Himself. That’s my understanding of Orthodox Ecclesiology, and it’s what seems most correct and consistent with the whole of Church History.
As such, I think the sedevacantist position is the most correct within Latin Christianity, but that Orthodoxy is what God really has in mind.
The Pope is the Vicar of Christ. He is the visible head of the Church. Have you always been part of the eastern church?
The Pope is the Vicar of Christ. He is the visible head of the Church.
Oh I know they assert that, I just believe the Roman Pontiff Traditionally held a position of highest honor as head of the most important Church, being in the Imperial Capital, without holding Universal Jurisdiction. First-among-equals, not first-without-equal.
I’m still in Communion with the Roman Church for the first Thousand Years, so it’s not like I reject their Primacy-of-Honor. I just don’t believe their current claims of things like Papal Supremacy and Infallibility are consistent with the Catholic Faith.
I’ve always been a pre-Christian, until I was Baptized. My family had no ties to Traditional Christianity until my adult life.
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