Would you follow him, listen to him, and take spiritual advise from him?
One of the greatest tools of anti-Catholic rhetoric is the corruption of certain Popes throughout history, they are held up as reason the Catholic Church is not the true church of Jesus Christ. Theologically they make no difference to the church. Corrupt men are simply a result of original sin, the papacy is biblical and that is the end of it.
Bad popes being used in this debate simply shows the ignorance of the person making this point and it is a simple matter of basic apologetics to prove otherwise. However, amongst us children of the one Holy Roman Catholic Church, bad popes in history whilst unpleasant reminders of our fallen state, can also be a useful tool in learning about how to handle present difficulties with the hierarchy.
Ultramontanism is a word you should fix firmly in your mind, it is a complex theological position, however in layman’s terms it means to put a strong emphasis on the powers of the pope. If you wish to understand the modern church, Vatican II is not where you need to start but rather Vatican I and the surrounding political chaos that enveloped the church at the time.
The Pope is the Holy Father and the great guardian or custodian of the deposit of faith, he is there to keep church and her magisterium safe, something most popes even the bad ones understood, he is not supposed to alter the faith according to his whims and most certainly not to change the faith or even push the faith to adapt to the world around him, what Our Lord Jesus Christ taught two thousand years ago is the same today as it will be in two more thousand years.
The laity suffer in general from a strange form of extreme ultramontanism, they believe the Pope is infallible at all times and to criticise him is anti-Catholic. This absurd lie is born out of the fruits of the spirit of Vatican II, i.e. the watering down of religious education and the celebrity of Pope John Paul II both of these topics would take too long to discuss in this simple article, by an even simpler writer.
We must bear in mind some of the major quotes concerning Alex VI have come from his enemies, such as the famous Machiavelli, so we know Popes can be lied about and misinterpreted at times, however that excuse can only go so far, defenders of several of our most recent Popes, not just Pope Francis, have claimed that a lot of the negative coverage comes from enemies of the Pope.
This is more true or false depending the Pontiff, blessed Pope Pius XII for example, 99% of the negative coverage is completely false and down to bad actors or even a KGB disinformation campaign, if you don’t believe that I would highly recommend reading the sources listed in the upcoming article on the subject.
Then there is taking the context of history into account, St John Paul II for example, it is worth reading a lot of different sources on that subject before even thinking of evaluating his pontificate, however with that said and at a certain point, actions speak louder than words and we will know them by their fruit therefore Alexander VI and other clearly bad popes can only have so many allowances made for them.
However I am here to ask one simple question of the defenders of bad popes and that is, would you follow Pope Alexander the VI blindly if you were back there in the renaissance? I would obey him in all that is lawful and not sinful, I would listen to him always. He is the Holy Father, the Pope and the Vicar of Christ.
Would I take his spiritual guidance? the answer would be no of course, not other than simply instructions like read the gospel of Luke on Mondays for example.
He was a clever man, he advanced the churches interests at times, he didn’t actual mess around with the doctrines or teachings of the church, which in some ways makes him less dangerous to the chair of Peter than other Popes.
I would listen obediently, however if he asked me to start doing things that seemed suspicious and unusual, even contrary to the teaching of the faith, then a good senses Fidelium should pick up on this and take into account that he was a man who had several illegitimate children as priest and bishop, he had mistresses as the pope, he was corrupt to the core, engaged in simony and corruption of all kinds. Why would you trust a man who was proven to be constantly scheming for self gain, advantage and who you knew had no real moral fibre.
The Gospel of Mathew teaches us to be “wise as serpents and innocent as doves”, this is something previous generations of Catholics understood. If a Bishop preached heresy or even pacifism to heresy, the laity would rightly confront him. Now people have become so weak in their faith that they simply let it slide. I am not saying return to rioting, far from it, but just going along to get along will not, I guess, be well received at the final judgement we must all face on passing from this short mortal life.
I am not going to discuss the current Pontifical situation, however I will say Catholics under Pope Alexander VI, the great and infamous Borgia Pope, never doubted the faith for the most part, because while the office of the Pope was being tarnished, the faith during the worst excesses of the bad popes was often not under as great a threat as many would have you believe. No doubt, it damaged it, it also could be argued that sparked the reformation. I also would argue the faith is under a greater threat now because of the confusion and a capitulation to the world will cause more souls to be lost in the long run.
So, when you are confronted about criticising a Bishop, cardinal or even the Pope, ask them would you follow Alexander the VI? would you? With his mistress hanging in the wings of the papal palace, with his wealth on display gotten through ill means. Well, why would I not criticise someone walking hand in hand with a well-known abortion advocate or outspoken anti catholic Marxist newspaper writer?
The Catholics of history where not silent, they loved the faith and spoke out when they felt it was in danger. We should follow our betters from history St Francis of Assisi, St Thomas more, St Catherine of Sienna to name but a few and we should speak out now.
AC