Eclipse of the Church: The Case for Sedevacantism by Mario Derksen (2021 )
When our Blessed Lord and Savior Jesus Christ founded the Roman Catholic Church, He did so not merely as an institution that would teach His doctrine throughout the world and confer His grace through the sacraments. Neither did He found her simply as an organized community of all who believe in and follow Him. Much more than that, Christ founded the Church as an indefectible supernatural society that would in truth constitute His very own Mystical Body, a body of which He is the Head and the faithful are the members, so that he who is attached to the Body is also attached to the Head.
Just as He Himself is the unfailing Way, the Truth, and the Life (see Jn 14:6), so would His Church be an inerrant and indefectible supernatural instrument by and in which souls would be taught, ruled, and sanctified with His very own authority (cf. Mt 16:19; 18:18) and thus be brought safely to heavenly glory (cf. Jn 17:12).
In a radio message for Christmas Eve, 1951, Pope Pius XII teaches that “the Divine Redeemer founded the Church in order to communicate to humanity by its means his truth and his grace to the very end of time. The Church is his ‘Mystical Body.’
She is entirely Christ’s, and Christ is God’s [cf. 1 Cor 3:23].”1 It is our Blessed Savior Himself who guarantees that His Church does not merely have the charge of teaching the truth and sanctifying souls in every age but will actually do so. At no time will she teach anything that does not conform to the Gospel of her Lord; at no point will she be a danger to souls.
In his 1943 encyclical letter on the Mystical Body, the same Pius XII teaches that “Jesus Christ, hanging on the Cross, opened up to His Church the fountain of those divine gifts, which prevent her from ever teaching false doctrine and enable her to rule them for the salvation of their souls through divinely enlightened pastors and to bestow on them an abundance of heavenly graces.”
When our Blessed Lord and Savior Jesus Christ founded the Roman Catholic Church, He did so not merely as an institution that would teach His doctrine throughout the world and confer His grace through the sacraments. Neither did He found her simply as an organized community of all who believe in and follow Him. Much more than that, Christ founded the Church as an indefectible supernatural society that would in truth constitute His very own Mystical Body, a body of which He is the Head and the faithful are the members, so that he who is attached to the Body is also attached to the Head.
Just as He Himself is the unfailing Way, the Truth, and the Life (see Jn 14:6), so would His Church be an inerrant and indefectible supernatural instrument by and in which souls would be taught, ruled, and sanctified with His very own authority (cf. Mt 16:19; 18:18) and thus be brought safely to heavenly glory (cf. Jn 17:12).
In a radio message for Christmas Eve, 1951, Pope Pius XII teaches that “the Divine Redeemer founded the Church in order to communicate to humanity by its means his truth and his grace to the very end of time. The Church is his ‘Mystical Body.’
She is entirely Christ’s, and Christ is God’s [cf. 1 Cor 3:23].”1 It is our Blessed Savior Himself who guarantees that His Church does not merely have the charge of teaching the truth and sanctifying souls in every age but will actually do so. At no time will she teach anything that does not conform to the Gospel of her Lord; at no point will she be a danger to souls.
In his 1943 encyclical letter on the Mystical Body, the same Pius XII teaches that “Jesus Christ, hanging on the Cross, opened up to His Church the fountain of those divine gifts, which prevent her from ever teaching false doctrine and enable her to rule them for the salvation of their souls through divinely enlightened pastors and to bestow on them an abundance of heavenly graces.”
When our Blessed Lord and Savior Jesus Christ founded the Roman Catholic Church, He did so not merely as an institution that would teach His doctrine throughout the world and confer His grace through the sacraments. Neither did He found her simply as an organized community of all who believe in and follow Him. Much more than that, Christ founded the Church as an indefectible supernatural society that would in truth constitute His very own Mystical Body, a body of which He is the Head and the faithful are the members, so that he who is attached to the Body is also attached to the Head.
Just as He Himself is the unfailing Way, the Truth, and the Life (see Jn 14:6), so would His Church be an inerrant and indefectible supernatural instrument by and in which souls would be taught, ruled, and sanctified with His very own authority (cf. Mt 16:19; 18:18) and thus be brought safely to heavenly glory (cf. Jn 17:12).
In a radio message for Christmas Eve, 1951, Pope Pius XII teaches that “the Divine Redeemer founded the Church in order to communicate to humanity by its means his truth and his grace to the very end of time. The Church is his ‘Mystical Body.’
She is entirely Christ’s, and Christ is God’s [cf. 1 Cor 3:23].”1 It is our Blessed Savior Himself who guarantees that His Church does not merely have the charge of teaching the truth and sanctifying souls in every age but will actually do so. At no time will she teach anything that does not conform to the Gospel of her Lord; at no point will she be a danger to souls.
In his 1943 encyclical letter on the Mystical Body, the same Pius XII teaches that “Jesus Christ, hanging on the Cross, opened up to His Church the fountain of those divine gifts, which prevent her from ever teaching false doctrine and enable her to rule them for the salvation of their souls through divinely enlightened pastors and to bestow on them an abundance of heavenly graces.”