Credo ecclesiam sanctam Catholicam I beleeue the holy Catholike Church : the authoritie, vniuersalitie, and visibilitie of the church handled and discussed / by Edward Chaloner ...

The eighth Gradation.

EIghtly (for I shall not yet leaue them) graunt for the See that the Bishop of Rome bee the or∣dayned Successour of Peter by the institution of Christ, not onely in the Popedome, but also in the particular See of Rome, yet is it not certayne for the particular person of this or any present Pope, whe∣ther hee bee the true and lawfull Bishop of Rome or no?

1. For although g Gregorie de Valentia doth thinke that Gods prouidence will alwayes secure the Church of a lawfull Pope. 2. Yet hee confes∣seth that graue Doctors doe admit the case as pos∣sible, and this according to them, may fall out di∣uers wayes.

First, if the Pope be promoted by Simonie, and that this is not impossible, Aquinas affirmes it, 2^a. 2^a. q. 100. where hee saith, Papa potest incurrere vitium Simoniae sicut & quilibet alius, the Pope may incurre the sinne of Simonie as well as any other. The which opinion Cajetan and others vpon Tho∣mas doe follow, and it is moreouer a clause in the Bull of Pope Iulius the second, That if any Pope happen to be chosen simoniacally, the same election shall bee actually void, although inthronization, protraction of time and adoration of the Cardinalls haue established him in the See.

Secondly, if the person elected by the Cardinalls bee not of the h masculine gender, as not a few of their owne writers doe affirme to haue beene some∣times experimented.

Thirdly, i if the partie chosen Pope were neuer truly baptized, and of this by their Tenents one can neuer be assured. For the Papists doe make the Sa∣craments to depend vpon the intention of the Priests, and therefore Bellarmine in his third booke de Iustif. and eight chapter, disputing against Am∣brosius Catharinus concerning the certaintie of grace, Ne{que} potest quis esse certus certitudine fidei, se percipere verum sacramentum, cum sacramentum sine inten∣tione ministri non conficiatur, & intentionem alterius nemo videre potest; that is, no man can by the cer∣taintie of Faith be assured that he receiues the true Sacrament, seeing that the Sacrament without the intention of the Priest is not made, and the inten∣tion of another doth no man see. To these k Ioh. de Turrecremata addes, that the Pope is deposed by God euen for mentall heresie, which we know, is a thing not liable to the sense.

Whereby wee may behold into what laborinths the Papists doe cast themselues by proiecting their faith vpon the Pope. For if he haue intruded vpon the Papacie by Simonie, or be of the wrong Sexe, or that the Priest at his baptisme owing his parents a spight, or his wits being a wooll-gathering, in∣tended not to baptise him; nay, put the case that hee bee rightly baptised, yet if the Bishop which conferred priest-hood vpon him, or those which baptised or ordayned that Bishop missed their right intention, or farther, if any of his predecessor Popes which either made Lawes for the forme and manner of electing the Pope, or created so many Cardinalls as might make a major or exclusiue part,

in the election of succeeding Popes, fayled by rea∣son of the forenamed Cases, or lastly (according to Turrecremata) if being truly elected, hee chance to fall into mentall heresie, then is not such a man by their owne positions true Bishop of Rome, that supposed Bishop of Rome not lawfull Pope, that Pope hath not the spirit of infallibilitie annext vn∣to him, and yet this may happen l (nay, by some it is proued to haue happened) and yet the Church neuer the wiser.

For howsoeuer m Franciscus Longus in his late Summes of the Councells, finding that their faith must needes stagger which depend altogether vpon the infallibilitie of the Pope, if it may not bee cer∣tainly knowne who is true and lawfull Pope, makes this assertion, De fide est dicere, hunc numero Papam viz. Gregorium XV. esse verum successorem Petri & Christi Vicarium, that is, That it is an article of faith, to say, this very Pope in particular, to wit, Gregorie the fifteenth, is the true successor of Peter and Vicar of Christ; yet by his leaue, I should hardly graunt that priuiledge to a priuateman, which is not due to a Generall Councell, and the Pope himselfe; or thinke it equitie to impose any thing vpon men to be beleeued as an article of faith, concerning which the Doctors of the Church, and the Bishops of Rome themselues may erre and be deceiued.

Now, who knowes not, that Pope Stephen the sixt in a Councell of Bishops, did disanull the acts of Formosus his predecessor, and commanded those which had beene ordayned by him, to bee reorday∣ned againe, as not acknowledging him for a true

and lawfull Pope. Againe, how Iohn the ninth dis∣anulled the acts of Stephen the sixth, and approued the acts of Formosus; yet farther, how Sergius the third re-established the acts of Stephen, and made void the acts of Formosus, and by consequence those of Iohn, both which notwithstanding, all succee∣ding Popes haue receiued as right and vndoubted successors of Peter in the Papall Throne. Nor doth n Bellarmine otherwise defend these errors of the Popes, then by saying that they erred, in quaestione facti non iuris, in a question of fact not of right, and concludes, that the chiefe question was, whether Formosus were lawfull Pope or no, in which kinde of questions (saith he) we denie not but the Popes may erre, and that Stephen & Sergius erred indeed. In like manner, did not Iohn the three and twentieth sit fiue yeeres as Bishop of Rome, and moreouer in that ranke which is esteemed by the Iesuites to bee the right Line; yet o Bellarmine tells vs, that hee was not a certaine and vndoubted Pope, and there∣fore not needfull to bee defended, considering that there were three at the same time; neither could it be easily decided amongst so many learned Patrones which each of them had, whether of them was le∣gitimate. And if it bee true which the p Cardinall tells vs in another place, disputing the deposing of this Iohn, that dubius Papa habetur pro non Papa; a doubtfull Pope is held for no Pope, surely of whose election wee may any way doubt, his decisi∣ons wee may iustly feare, and the validitie of his pardons prouidently suspect.

Notes

• g

  Valent. ib. §. 39. At{que} ipse mihi persua∣deo nunquam futurum, vt in∣capax eligatur, Deo id prohi∣bente. Sed quia graues e∣tiam doctores eiusmodi ca∣sum tanquam possibilem ad∣mittunt, &c.
• h

  Valent. ib. Mulier autem & infidelis Pontificatus minime sunt capaces.
• i

  Valent. ib. Praeterea idem patet, si errore eligeretur infi∣delis quispiam non baptiza∣tus. & Bellar. lib. 1. de Sa∣cram. cap. 28.
• k

  Turrecrem. lib. 4. p. 2. c. 20.
• l

  Vid. suppli∣cat. ad Impe∣rat. Reg. Prin∣cip. &c.
• m

  Francisc. Long. summ. Concil. prae∣lud. 10. assert. 2.
• n

  Bellar. lib. 4 de Rom. Pont c. 12. Respon∣deo errasse Stephanum 6. & Sergium 3. sed in quaestio∣ne facti non iu∣ris. Et paulo post, Praecipua ergo quaestio fuit, an For∣mosus fuisset Papa legiti∣mus, necne? in qualibus quaestionibus non negamus posse errare Pontifices, & de facto errasse Stephanum & Sergium.
• o

  Bellar. lib. 4. de Rom. Pont. c. 14.
• p

  Bellar. lib. 2. de Concil. c. 19.