The Magisterium Is Free From Error

Bro. Peter Dimond

A supporter of the false traditionalist group, the Fraternity of St. Peter, recently wrote to us. His responses confirmed the sad fact that obstinate adherents of such groups don’t have the true faith. The man thinks that he believes in the dogma extra ecclesiam nulla salus while accepting Vatican II (which denies it) and even while professing that John Paul II is a ‘saint’. He is deceived. (This video explains and proves that by accepting the notorious idolater and proponent of false ecumenism John Paul II as a ‘saint’, while having a familiarity with his life, one actually worships false gods and denies the first commandment: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SPs7jdfaib0) We also found it interesting that in the exchanges the man referred to the notorious heretic Francis as ‘Bergoglio’. He prefers to distance himself from his apostate antipope when it’s convenient, even though he professes that Bergoglio is in the Church of Christ, has the true faith, and is the one to whom Catholics must submit.

His bad will was apparent throughout the exchanges. In the midst of those exchanges (among other problematic statements), the man expressed a heresy that is common among false traditionalists: that the Magisterium of the Church can become corrupted or can officially teach error. He wrote:

… In my assessment the Church has to clarify formally again and correct centuries of error on four points… Errors within all four of those domains not only have corrupted the magisterium of the Church but the entire natural order of the world…

Andy

His false position that the Magisterium can become corrupted or officially teach error is of course connected to his ongoing recognition of the false and corrupt Vatican II sect. Since he doesn’t accept Catholic teaching on the infallibility of the Magisterium and the Church’s freedom from error, he is comfortable with a pseudo-magisterium that consistently teaches heresy, false doctrine and leads people to Hell. In fact, the Vatican II sect’s false ‘magisterial’ teaching on matters such as ecclesiology and religious liberty has now spanned over 50 years. The Vatican II sect has set forth its false teaching repeatedly and consistently in various forms of official documents – ranging from encyclicals to ‘apostolic’ documents to an ‘ecumenical council’. Of course that’s impossible for the Catholic Church and for true popes. Indeed, the length of time that the Vatican II sect’s pseudo-magisterium has promulgated its false teaching is comparable to the span over which popes condemned religious liberty in papal encyclicals in the 19^th century. If, according to the false traditionalists, popes can teach false doctrine in encyclicals for 50-plus years after Vatican II, why couldn’t the approximately 50-plus years of teaching against religious liberty in pre-Vatican II encyclicals also be false? It’s another illustration of the utter falsity of their position. In fact, if the Vatican II sect comes out with an official document addressed to the universal Church at this time, it’s likely that it will not only contain clear error but numerous blatant heresies (e.g. Amoris Laetitia and Evangelii Gaudium). That is a characteristic of a heretical sect, not the Catholic Church.

When someone actually believes and accepts the Catholic Church’s teaching that the Magisterium and the Church are free from error, that person will much more quickly recognize the true position: that the Vatican II sect is not the Catholic Church, and the Vatican II claimants to the Papacy are antipopes. Thus, understanding this teaching of the Church is very important. So, here are some quotes which set forth the Catholic Church’s teaching on the freedom of the Magisterium and the Catholic Church from error. True Catholics believe it; false traditionalists don’t.

Pope Pius XI, Divini Illius Magistri (#18), Dec. 31, 1929: “… God Himself made the Church a sharer in the divine magisterium and by His divine benefit unable to be mistaken.”

LATIN: “… divini magisterii Ecclesiam fecit Deus ipse participem eamdemque divino eius beneficio falli nesciam.”

Pope Pius XI, Divini Illius Magistri (#16), Dec. 31, 1929: “To this magisterium Christ the Lord imparted immunity from error...”

LATIN: “Huic magisterio Christus Dominus erroris immunitatem impertivit...”

Pope Gregory XVI, Commissum Divinitus (# 4), May 17, 1835: “... the Church has, by its divine institution, the power of the magisterium to teach and define matters of faith and morals and to interpret the Holy Scriptures without danger of error.”

Pope Leo XIII, Caritatis Studium (#6) July 25, 1898: The Magisterium “could by no means commit itself to erroneous teaching.”

Pope Pius X, Editae Saepe (#8), May 26, 1910: “... only a miracle of that divine power could preserve the Church... from blemish in the holiness of Her doctrine...”

Pope Pius XI, Quas Primas (#22), Dec. 11, 1925: “... the perfect and perpetual immunity of the Church from error and heresy.”

Pope Leo XIII, Satis Cognitum (# 9), June 29, 1896: “The practice of the Church has always been the same, and that with the consenting judgment [i.e. consensus] of the holy fathers who certainly were accustomed to hold as having no part of Catholic communion and as banished from the Church whoever had departed in even the least way from the doctrine proposed by the authentic magisterium.”

LATIN: "Idem semper Ecclesiae mos, idque sanctorum patrum consentiente iudicio: qui scilicet communionis catholicae expertem et ab Ecclesia extorrem habere consueverunt, quicumque a doctrina authentico magisterio proposita vel minimum discessisset.”

Also, note here that the Church is infallible in its ‘authentic magisterium’. Pope Leo XIII declares that to deny teaching of the ‘authentic magisterium’ is to separate oneself from the Church. The position that the ‘authentic magisterium’ can contain error is common among false traditionalists. Even numerous sedevacantists, who follow the erroneous assertions of certain pre-Vatican II theologians, have adopted the inaccurate terminology that the ‘authentic magisterium’ constitutes teaching of the Roman Pontiff that can be mistaken. As we see above, no it does not. The authentic magisterium is the teaching authority of the Church which binds under pain of automatic expulsion from the society. It is therefore infallible. Some reply that this emphasis on the terms 'magisterium' and 'authentic magisterium' is just a matter of semantics, for everyone admits that not everything a Roman Pontiff says or teaches is infallible. No, it is not just a matter of semantics. Although it’s certainly true that not everything a Roman Pontiff utters or teaches is infallible or constitutes an actual/official teaching of the Magisterium, it’s very important to remain faithful to the Church’s language. When one remains faithful to the Church’s language that the Magisterium is free from error, one will naturally be driven to the truth and avoid many errors.

For example, if false traditionalist adherents of the Vatican II sect remained faithful to the Church’s language on the Magisterium, namely, that the Magisterium is free from error and that the authentic magisterium is infallible, it would be exceedingly difficult for them to even articulate a defense of their position. Just imagine how weak and inconsistent they’d appear when asserting that none of the Vatican II sect’s teaching on religious liberty, false ecumenism, etc. was ever promulgated by ‘the Magisterium’, even though it has been repeatedly propounded in official document after official document addressed to the universal Church, including in Vatican II, encyclicals, etc. Moreover, there are numerous quotes from the very authorities of the Vatican II sect which identify their own novel teaching as ‘magisterial’. Instead of dealing with that uncomfortable situation, the false traditionalists often decide to just run afoul of the Church’s language on the Magisterium, arguing that the Magisterium can teach error or even contradict itself. In this regard one thinks of the profession of faith published by the heretical and schismatic SSPX-MC, which boldly declared that the Catholic Church and the Vatican II sect have ‘two opposite Magisteria’ - in other words, that the Magisterium contradicts itself! This is of course heretical and schismatic nonsense. If the followers of such groups actually believed in, and remained faithful to, the Church’s language and teaching on the infallibility of the Magisterium (as shown above), they would quickly abandon their false and spiritually destructive position and reject the false traditionalist shepherds leading them into heresy.

These two videos also deal with this matter of the infallibility of the Magisterium and how it relates to refuting the position of false traditionalists and others in the Counter Church.

The Truth About The SSPX, The SSPX-MC, And Similar Groups (video)

Was Vatican II Infallible? (video)

Pope Gregory XVI, Mirari Vos (# 10), Aug. 15, 1832: “Therefore, it is obviously absurd and injurious to propose a certain ‘restoration and regeneration’ for her (the Church) as though necessary for her safety and growth, as if she could be considered subject to any failing health or dimming of mind or other misfortune.”

Pope Pius XI, Mortalium Animos (# 10), Jan. 6, 1928: “During the lapse of centuries, the mystical Spouse of Christ has never been contaminated, nor can she ever in the future be contaminated, as Cyprian bears witness: ‘The Bride of Christ cannot be made false to her Spouse: she is incorrupt and modest. She knows but one dwelling, she guards the sanctity of the nuptial chamber chastely and modestly.”

Pope Hadrian I, Second Council of Nicaea, 787: “… Christ our God, when He took for His Bride His Holy Catholic Church, having no blemish or wrinkle, promised he would guard her and assured his holy disciples saying, I am with you every day until the consummation of the world.”

Pope Eugene IV, Council of Florence, Session 9, March 23, 1440: “…the Spouse of Christ is uncontaminated and modest, knowing only one home, and she guards the sanctity of their marriage bed with chaste modesty.”

Pope St. Siricius, epistle (1) Directa ad decessorem, Feb. 10, 385: “And so He has wished the beauty of the Church, whose spouse He is, to radiate with the splendor of chastity, so that on the day of judgment, when He will have come again, He may be able to find her without spot or wrinkle [Eph. 5:27] as He instituted her through His apostle.”