Bp. Williamson's Mentevacantist Error by Rev. Anthony Cekada
Ratzinger a heretic? No, just a sick mind.
The Most Rev. Richard N. Williamson, Rector of the Society of St. Pius X’s seminary in La Reja, Argentina, is, by general agreement, a colorful character.
In an August 2006 interview with Stephen Heiner, later published in the SSPX publication The Angelus, His Excellency responded to questions on a broad range of subjects, and did not fail to live up to his reputation.
One topic Bp. Williamson discussed at some length was sedevacantism. Now in 1980, when I still was a member of the Society of St. Pius X and he was still a simple priest, we had a number of very lively discussions about this.
Fr. Williamson explained to me his theory about why John Paul II could not be a true heretic, and hence could not automatically lose the papal office, as sedevacantists like myself contend. “Half of John Paul II’s brain is liberal, and half is Catholic,” he told me, “So he doesn’t really know that what he says is not Catholic!”
It struck me as a perfectly loony idea then — a modernist is not responsible for heresy because he’s a modernist? I christened it “mentevacantism,” from the Latin words for “vacant mind.”
In his recent interview, Bp. Williamson is still promoting mentevacantism as an answer to sedevacantism. His current explanation of the theory goes something like this:
Benedict XVI has a “sick” modern mind. For this reason, Benedict is unaware of his heresy. Since there is no church authority to make him aware of it, Benedict cannot make a true choice between dogma and heresy. Without this true choice, Benedict is not a real heretic, and so he remains a true pope.
Below I will present Bp. Williamson’s mentevacantist thesis and then offer my own analysis of it.
Ratzinger a heretic? No, just a sick mind.
The Most Rev. Richard N. Williamson, Rector of the Society of St. Pius X’s seminary in La Reja, Argentina, is, by general agreement, a colorful character.
In an August 2006 interview with Stephen Heiner, later published in the SSPX publication The Angelus, His Excellency responded to questions on a broad range of subjects, and did not fail to live up to his reputation.
One topic Bp. Williamson discussed at some length was sedevacantism. Now in 1980, when I still was a member of the Society of St. Pius X and he was still a simple priest, we had a number of very lively discussions about this.
Fr. Williamson explained to me his theory about why John Paul II could not be a true heretic, and hence could not automatically lose the papal office, as sedevacantists like myself contend. “Half of John Paul II’s brain is liberal, and half is Catholic,” he told me, “So he doesn’t really know that what he says is not Catholic!”
It struck me as a perfectly loony idea then — a modernist is not responsible for heresy because he’s a modernist? I christened it “mentevacantism,” from the Latin words for “vacant mind.”
In his recent interview, Bp. Williamson is still promoting mentevacantism as an answer to sedevacantism. His current explanation of the theory goes something like this:
Benedict XVI has a “sick” modern mind. For this reason, Benedict is unaware of his heresy. Since there is no church authority to make him aware of it, Benedict cannot make a true choice between dogma and heresy. Without this true choice, Benedict is not a real heretic, and so he remains a true pope.
Below I will present Bp. Williamson’s mentevacantist thesis and then offer my own analysis of it.
Ratzinger a heretic? No, just a sick mind.
The Most Rev. Richard N. Williamson, Rector of the Society of St. Pius X’s seminary in La Reja, Argentina, is, by general agreement, a colorful character.
In an August 2006 interview with Stephen Heiner, later published in the SSPX publication The Angelus, His Excellency responded to questions on a broad range of subjects, and did not fail to live up to his reputation.
One topic Bp. Williamson discussed at some length was sedevacantism. Now in 1980, when I still was a member of the Society of St. Pius X and he was still a simple priest, we had a number of very lively discussions about this.
Fr. Williamson explained to me his theory about why John Paul II could not be a true heretic, and hence could not automatically lose the papal office, as sedevacantists like myself contend. “Half of John Paul II’s brain is liberal, and half is Catholic,” he told me, “So he doesn’t really know that what he says is not Catholic!”
It struck me as a perfectly loony idea then — a modernist is not responsible for heresy because he’s a modernist? I christened it “mentevacantism,” from the Latin words for “vacant mind.”
In his recent interview, Bp. Williamson is still promoting mentevacantism as an answer to sedevacantism. His current explanation of the theory goes something like this:
Benedict XVI has a “sick” modern mind. For this reason, Benedict is unaware of his heresy. Since there is no church authority to make him aware of it, Benedict cannot make a true choice between dogma and heresy. Without this true choice, Benedict is not a real heretic, and so he remains a true pope.
Below I will present Bp. Williamson’s mentevacantist thesis and then offer my own analysis of it.