Bergoglio gives a reflection on the communion of saints, which is, of course a dogma of the Catholic Faith. So we are definitely in the area of heresy here. He says that the communion of saints is the Church, but gives it an unheard of meaning: “The Church is the community of saved sinners. It’s beautiful, this definition. No one can exclude themselves [sic] from the Church, we are all saved sinners.”
Sinners, yes. Saved? Not yet. But he continues:
Let us consider, dear brothers and sisters, that in Christ no one can ever truly separate us from those we love because the bond is an existential bond, a strong bond that is in our very nature; only the manner of being together with one another that changes, but nothing and no one can break this bond. “Father, let’s think about those who have denied the faith, who are apostates, who are the persecutors of the Church, who have denied their baptism: Are these also at home?” Yes, these too. All of them. The blasphemers, all of them. We are brothers. This is the communion of saints. The communion of saints holds together the community of believers on earth and in heaven, and on earth the saints, the sinners, all.
The Catholic Church teaches this about the communion of saints:
By this second part of the Ninth Article of the Creed we mean that between the members of the Church — in Heaven, in Purgatory, and on earth — there exists, by reason of their close union with one another under Christ their Head, a mutual communication in spiritual riches. Not all of the Church’s members fully enjoy this fellowship, but those only who are in the state of grace, wherefore this fellowship is called “the Communion of Saints.” Those in mortal sin are not wholly excluded from this Communion of Saints, for both by the public prayers of the Church and the petitions and good works of those in the state of grace, they can be helped to recover the grace of God.
From The Catholic Catechism, drawn up by Pietro Cardinal Gasparri, 1932, pp. 110-111.
The Catechism of Saint Peter Canisius, a Doctor of the Church, has this to say about non- Catholics and the communion of saints:
“Outside of this communion of saints, just as outside of the ark of Noe, there is salvation for no one, but to the contrary, for everyone the certitude of damnation, and no salvation for mortals. This is true with regard to the Jews or the Gentiles, who have never embraced the faith of the Church, or with regard to the heretics, who have abandoned it or altered it, or with regard to the schismatics, who have broken the peace and unity of the Church, or in regard to the excommunicated, who have merited for some other serious cause to be cut off and separated from the body of the Church like rotten members. All these mentioned here do not belong to the Church nor to its holy communion, and are not able to participate in divine grace or eternal salvation, unless beforehand they are reconciled and return to the Church from which they committed the fault of separating themselves. For the rule imposed by Saint Cyprian and Saint Augustine is certain: He does not have God for his Father, who refuses to have the Church for his mother.”
From Le Grand Catéchisme de Canisius, by Saint Peter Canisius, translated by M. L’abbé A.C. Peltier, Tome I: (Paris: Louis Vivès,
1856).
Bergoglio’s inclusion of apostates and those who have denied their baptism is clearly contrary to the Church’s teaching, which states that the communion of saints pertains only to the members of the Church, either the Church Militant on earth, the Church Suffering in Purgatory, or the Church Triumphant in heaven. As the great Doctor states, heresy, apostasy, schism, and excommunication exclude from the Catholic Church, and therefore from the communion of saints.
We see, then, that Bergoglio’s heresy is owing to the Vatican II notion of the Church of Christ: all those who look with faith toward Jesus. Such a “church” is invisible, for how do we know who looks with faith toward Jesus? It is a glaring heresy. The traditional teaching of the Church is that membership in the Catholic Church requires the following things: (1) to profess the Catholic Faith; (2) to have received a valid baptism; (3) to be submitted and obedient to the Roman Pontiff. All three are necessary. It also teaches that apostasy, heresy, and schism exclude those guilty of it from the Catholic Church. Excommunication also excludes, if it is declared.
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