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Poll

Affirm or deny: Pope Honorius remained the Roman Pontiff until his death, even though the Sixth Ecumenical Council formally condemned and anathematized him as a heretic and Pope Leo II ratified that condemnation.

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Deny
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Total Members Voted: 9

Author Topic: Affirm or Deny: Heretic Yet Pope Until Death? (Pope Honorius I case  (Read 1320 times)

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Offline Ladislaus

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You're kidding, right?  I always give a straight answer. As for you, you couldn't even give me a straight answer whether "the Church" canonized the writings in the New Testament!!

Stubborn has one of the most bizarre twisted minds I've ever encountered, and it's a waste of time to debate him other than to call out his grave errors and heresies for the sake of not allowing third-party readers to be persuaded by the poison he spews.  He constantly begs the question, engages in circular arguments, redefines terms to create bizarre tautologies, has absolutely no comprehension of a "distinction" or a "sylllgogism", regularly denounces all 20th century theologians, later adding all 19th century theologians into the mix when someone provided citations from them to contradict his heresies.

So, when we put out the syllogistic argument with the MAJOR premise that the "Pope cannot teach error" (oversimplified here for the sake of illustration), he'll respond with ... but the Sedevacantists claim that the Pope can teach error (since it's glued inextricably into his cold dead brain that these men had to have been Popes).  When you explain that the argument is in the form modo tollentis where, we affirm the proposition that Popes cannot teach error, and then because the V2 papal claimants did teach error, conclude they were not popes ... well, you might as well be speaking in Chinese, since the proposition that "Montini was not the pope" being a conclusion of a syllogism simply "does not compute", "does not comptue".  Or he'll create tautologies.  He says that Magisterium is inerrant, making you think he agrees with the SVs, but what he says is that untrue things that the papal claimants teach are not "Magisterium", and so he creates an absurd meaningless tautology, where "Magisterium" is just the TRUE things that the Popes teach, rendering it without error by tautological definition.  Then he'll claim the SVs believe the Popes DID teach error, again begging the question that they are Popes, which is precisely what the SVs dispute.  It's just mindboggling really.



Sadly, however, he's not kidding.  We wish he were.

Offline Stubborn

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Unfortunate that a man of Father Wathen's caliber would engage in sheer gaslighting, bringing no theological argument to bear, but gratuitously claiming that it's not "a serious theological thesis" that people who "can't think straight" just came up with for no particular reason, because the contary would cause them "psychological" trauma, and the old smear of "popolatry", as if merely agreen with Archbishop Lefebvre that the Holly Ghost protects the papacy in such as way as to prevent this degree of desturction, making it entirely possible in his mind that the See has been vacant ... constitutes "popolatry".  Ridiculous.
Well, I only posted a short snip, you have the book, it has all the theological arguments necessary, read it.

From now on, always remember that a true pope and heretic, Pope Honorius I, was formally and officially declared a heretic and anathematized by the pope during the infallible Third Council of Constantinople. The pope at that Council declared that a valid, true pope to be a heretic the whole time he occupied the Chair of St. Peter until his death.
 
 
"But Peter and the apostles answering, said: We ought to obey God, rather than men." - Acts 5:29

The Highest Principle in the Church: "We are first of all under obedience to God, and only then under obedience to man" - Fr. Hesse


Offline Stubborn

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Stubborn has one of the most bizarre twisted minds I've ever encountered, and it's a waste of time to debate him other than to call out his grave errors and heresies for the sake of not allowing third-party readers to be persuaded by the poison he spews.  He constantly begs the question, engages in circular arguments, redefines terms to create bizarre tautologies, has absolutely no comprehension of a "distinction" or a "sylllgogism", regularly denounces all 20th century theologians, later adding all 19th century theologians into the mix when someone provided citations from them to contradict his heresies.

So, when we put out the syllogistic argument with the MAJOR premise that the "Pope cannot teach error" (oversimplified here for the sake of illustration), he'll respond with ... but the Sedevacantists claim that the Pope can teach error (since it's glued inextricably into his cold dead brain that these men had to have been Popes).  When you explain that the argument is in the form modo tollentis where, we affirm the proposition that Popes cannot teach error, and then because the V2 papal claimants did teach error, conclude they were not popes ... well, you might as well be speaking in Chinese, since the proposition that "Montini was not the pope" being a conclusion of a syllogism simply "does not compute", "does not comptue".  Or he'll create tautologies.  He says that Magisterium is inerrant, making you think he agrees with the SVs, but what he says is that untrue things that the papal claimants teach are not "Magisterium", and so he creates an absurd meaningless tautology, where "Magisterium" is just the TRUE things that the Popes teach, rendering it without error by tautological definition.  Then he'll claim the SVs believe the Popes DID teach error, again begging the question that they are Popes, which is precisely what the SVs dispute.  It's just mindboggling really.



Sadly, however, he's not kidding.  We wish he were.
From now on, always remember that a true pope and heretic, Pope Honorius I, was formally and officially declared a heretic and anathematized by the pope during the infallible Third Council of Constantinople. The pope at that Council declared that a valid, true pope to be a heretic the whole time he occupied the Chair of St. Peter until his death.
"But Peter and the apostles answering, said: We ought to obey God, rather than men." - Acts 5:29

The Highest Principle in the Church: "We are first of all under obedience to God, and only then under obedience to man" - Fr. Hesse

Offline Ladislaus

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Will you respond to the affirm or deny posed in this thread?

No, since you embed an assumption into the question that I am not certain of.  St. Robert Bellarmine states that there's some reason to suspect that the condemnation of Honorius represents a later interpolation into the original decree.

"even though the Sixth Ecuмenical Council formally condemned and anathematized him as a heretic"

I can neither confirm nor deny that this is true, so I can't answer the question.

Offline Ladislaus

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For the sake of argument, however, let's say that Honorius HAD been anathematized.

Even then I can't answer the question, since the anathematization occurred after his death, when he was no longer Pope.  So the anathema had no effect on his possession of papal office.  Was Honorius a manifest heretic during his lifetime?  Can't say, don't know ... and I suspect nobody else can say either.  I've not seen evidence that anyone considered him a heretic while he was in possession of papal office, and a decree cannot change the past and retroactively remove him from office.


Offline SkidRowCatholic

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No, since you embed an assumption into the question that I am not certain of.  St. Robert Bellarmine states that there's some reason to suspect that the condemnation of Honorius represents a later interpolation into the original decree.

"even though the Sixth Ecuмenical Council formally condemned and anathematized him as a heretic"

I can neither confirm nor deny that this is true, so I can't answer the question.
I like the way you put it better.

Offline ArmandLouis

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No, since you embed an assumption into the question that I am not certain of.  St. Robert Bellarmine states that there's some reason to suspect that the condemnation of Honorius represents a later interpolation into the original decree.

"even though the Sixth Ecuмenical Council formally condemned and anathematized him as a heretic"

I can neither confirm nor deny that this is true, so I can't answer the question.
“And in like manner we anathematize the inventors of the new error, that is, Theodore, Bishop of Pharan, Cyrus of Alexandria, Sergius, Pyrrhus, Paul, and Peter, betrayers rather than leaders of the Church of Constantinople, and also Honorius, who did not attempt to sanctify this Apostolic Church with the teaching of apostolic tradition, but by profane treachery permitted its purity to be polluted.”
— Pope St. Leo II

Now, since Pope St. Leo II both ratified the Sixth Ecuмenical Council and personally anathematized Honorius for fostering heresy, independently of any disputed line in the conciliar acts, the condemnation cannot be dismissed as uncertain. Do you affirm or deny that Pope St. Leo II anathematized Honorius?

(Latin text of Leo II’s letter: Mansi, Sacrorum Conciliorum, Tomus XI, Col. 726–728, Epistola Leonis PP. II ad Caesarem et Episcopos Constantinopolitanae Synodi confirmationem)


Vive les bons prêtres !

Online Angelus

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“And in like manner we anathematize the inventors of the new error, that is, Theodore, Bishop of Pharan, Cyrus of Alexandria, Sergius, Pyrrhus, Paul, and Peter, betrayers rather than leaders of the Church of Constantinople, and also Honorius, who did not attempt to sanctify this Apostolic Church with the teaching of apostolic tradition, but by profane treachery permitted its purity to be polluted.”
— Pope St. Leo II

Now, since Pope St. Leo II both ratified the Sixth Ecuмenical Council and personally anathematized Honorius for fostering heresy, independently of any disputed line in the conciliar acts, the condemnation cannot be dismissed as uncertain. Do you affirm or deny that Pope St. Leo II anathematized Honorius?

(Latin text of Leo II’s letter: Mansi, Sacrorum Conciliorum, Tomus XI, Col. 726–728, Epistola Leonis PP. II ad Caesarem et Episcopos Constantinopolitanae Synodi confirmationem)

Leo II was born almost 200 years after Honorius. He was basing his anathema off of the factual assumptions of others.

Again, Popes are limited human creatures. They do not have the power to time-travel. Nor do they have the power to make dogmatically certain judgements about the internal forum. Stop trying to turn disciplinary statements into dogmatic statements.


Offline SkidRowCatholic

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But NOT for formal heresy but for that he, "did not attempt to sanctify this Apostolic Church with the teaching of apostolic tradition, but by profane treachery permitted its purity to be polluted.”

Catholic Trumpet,

You win nothing by this argument.

It has been hashed dozens, hundreds, thousands of times for hundreds of years.

You prove nothing, other than you adopt the arguments of heretics and schismatics against the papacy (which should be the rock of your faith rather than an object of your contempt).

This makes you look, well... heretical and schismatic.

From your favorite AI again,

Yes, both Protestants and Eastern Orthodox theologians historically invoked the case of Pope Honorius I (r. 625–638) to challenge papal primacy, infallibility, and the indefectibility of the Roman See. This controversy, stemming from the Sixth Ecuмenical Council's (680–681) post-mortem anathema against Honorius for aiding Monothelitism through ambiguous letters, provided ammunition for critics arguing that popes could err doctrinally or be judged by councils.Catholic apologists like St. Robert Bellarmine countered by distinguishing personal negligence from official teaching, textual misinterpretation, and conciliar factual error.

Even Eric Ybarra gets it.

I am not holding him up as a beacon of orthodoxy, but for the simple fact, that he - who accepts Vatican II - makes you look ridiculous.

A Pope could fail in his duties as Pope without becoming a formal heretic and ceasing to be Pope.

A Pope could condemn someone and be wrong because he doesn't have the facts straight (otherwise where would you be without +Lefebvre if you consider JPII a valid Pope).

Honorius may have been maligned by his enemies, it is shrouded in mystery and will remain so.

How horrified might you be to meet him at your judgement and have him as one of your accusers!

One is not dogmatically bound under penalty of sin to say or think he actually WAS a heretic.

The facts of a council are one thing, the definitions are another.

BTW, I like your avatar pic, very "trumpety" of you.;)

It was actually this very point (Honorius) that made me highly suspicious you are he, as you have been stuck on this topic for quite awhile, and sound and argue JUST LIKE HIM...








Offline Stubborn

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Pope Honorius I 

Pope (625-12 October, 638), a Campanian, consecrated 27 October (Duchesne) or 3 November (Jaffé, Mann), in succession to Boniface V. His chief notoriety has come to him from the fact that he was condemned as a heretic by the sixth general council (680).

"But Peter and the apostles answering, said: We ought to obey God, rather than men." - Acts 5:29

The Highest Principle in the Church: "We are first of all under obedience to God, and only then under obedience to man" - Fr. Hesse

Offline ArmandLouis

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Leo II was born almost 200 years after Honorius. He was basing his anathema off of the factual assumptions of others.

Again, Popes are limited human creatures. They do not have the power to time-travel. Nor do they have the power to make dogmatically certain judgements about the internal forum. Stop trying to turn disciplinary statements into dogmatic statements.
I am sorry, but what your suggesting above is a condemned error, treating dogma or Church teaching as if it can evolve, change, or be adapted to human reason, historical circuмstances, or individual conscience. [Pope St. Pius X, Pascendi Dominici Gregis, 1907, §13.]


Pope St. Leo II’s birth nearly 200 years after Honorius does not diminish his authority. He did not need to time-travel to exercise his office. As Pope, he confirmed the Sixth Ecuмenical Council which condemed and anathematized Pope Honorius I as a heretic, and personally anathematized Honorius for permitting heresy. This condemnation concerns objective, public error, Honorius’ failure to oppose the Monothelite heresy, not the private state of his soul. Such judgments fall squarely within the Church’s competence to define dogmatic truth and condemn public heresy and are therefore dogmatic acts, not mere disciplinary statements. To deny Leo II’s anathematization or reduce it to discipline undermines the authority of the Pope and an Ecuмenical Council, contradicting immutable Church teaching.

This absolutely destroys the grave error of sedevacantism, because Pope Honorius I remained Pope until his death! 

Dieu protège le Pape, vive la Papauté !



(Latin text of Leo II’s letter: Mansi, Sacrorum Conciliorum, Tomus XI, Col. 726–728, Epistola Leonis PP. II ad Caesarem et Episcopos Constantinopolitanae Synodi confirmationem)

Vive les bons prêtres !


Offline SkidRowCatholic

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This absolutely destroys the grave error of sedevacantism, because Pope Honorius I remained Pope until his death!
Actually no. 

The fact that he WAS Pope and remained so until his death - proves the grave error of R&Rism!

Online Angelus

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I am sorry, but what your suggesting above is a condemned error, treating dogma or Church teaching as if it can evolve, change, or be adapted to human reason, historical circuмstances, or individual conscience. [Pope St. Pius X, Pascendi Dominici Gregis, 1907, §13.]


Pope St. Leo II’s birth nearly 200 years after Honorius does not diminish his authority. He did not need to time-travel to exercise his office. As Pope, he confirmed the Sixth Ecuмenical Council which condemed and anathematized Pope Honorius I as a heretic, and personally anathematized Honorius for permitting heresy. This condemnation concerns objective, public error, Honorius’ failure to oppose the Monothelite heresy, not the private state of his soul. Such judgments fall squarely within the Church’s competence to define dogmatic truth and condemn public heresy and are therefore dogmatic acts, not mere disciplinary statements. To deny Leo II’s anathematization or reduce it to discipline undermines the authority of the Pope and an Ecuмenical Council, contradicting immutable Church teaching.

This absolutely destroys the grave error of sedevacantism, because Pope Honorius I remained Pope until his death!

Dieu protège le Pape, vive la Papauté !



(Latin text of Leo II’s letter: Mansi, Sacrorum Conciliorum, Tomus XI, Col. 726–728, Epistola Leonis PP. II ad Caesarem et Episcopos Constantinopolitanae Synodi confirmationem)


I was mistaken in my previous post. Leo II was Pope during the Third Ecuмenical Council (Constantinople III). So, you are correct, he did not need to time travel. 

But you seem to think that Honorius was condemned by the Council during his Pontificate. Is that what you think? If so, it is not true.



Did the Third Ecuмenical Council Condemn Pope Honorius I During His Lifetime?

No, the Third Ecuмenical Council (Constantinople III) did not condemn Pope Honorius I during his lifetime.

  • Pope Honorius I died in 638 AD.
  • The Third Council of Constantinople (the Sixth Ecuмenical Council) convened 42 years later, from 680 to 681 AD.
Therefore, Pope Honorius I was condemned posthumously (after his death).



Offline ArmandLouis

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I was mistaken in my previous post. Leo II was Pope during the Third Ecuмenical Council (Constantinople III). So, you are correct, he did not need to time travel.

But you seem to think that Honorius was condemned by the Council during his Pontificate. Is that what you think? If so, it is not true.



Did the Third Ecuмenical Council Condemn Pope Honorius I During His Lifetime?

No, the Third Ecuмenical Council (Constantinople III) did not condemn Pope Honorius I during his lifetime.

  • Pope Honorius I died in 638 AD.
  • The Third Council of Constantinople (the Sixth Ecuмenical Council) convened 42 years later, from 680 to 681 AD.
Therefore, Pope Honorius I was condemned posthumously (after his death).


Yes of course Pope Honorius I was condemned posthumously as a heretic by the Sixth Ecuмenical Council. Pope St. Leo II ratified the Council and personally anathematized him, this demonstrates that the Church can objectively define and condemn error across time and that dogmatic authority is not constrained by human perception or temporal limitations, and that the Magisterium’s judgment is binding and timeless, independent of historical distance or personal knowledge of the condemned.

Most importantly, Honorius I proves a pope can be a heretic and still be pope. Only an Ecuмenical Council and the Pope can declare and condemn such public heresy. Most importantly, Catholics can trust the Church’s indefectibility! Her teaching authority remains unfailing, even in extraordinary cases.

And whatsoever thou shalt bind upon earth, it shall be bound also in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose upon earth, it shall be loosed also in heaven.

Dieu protège le Pape, vive la Papauté !
Vive les bons prêtres !

Online Angelus

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Yes of course Pope Honorius I was condemned posthumously as a heretic by the Sixth Ecuмenical Council. Pope St. Leo II ratified the Council and personally anathematized him, this demonstrates that the Church can objectively define and condemn error across time and that dogmatic authority is not constrained by human perception or temporal limitations, and that the Magisterium’s judgment is binding and timeless, independent of historical distance or personal knowledge of the condemned.

Most importantly, Honorius I proves a pope can be a heretic and still be pope. Only an Ecuмenical Council and the Pope can declare and condemn such public heresy. Most importantly, Catholics can trust the Church’s indefectibility! Her teaching authority remains unfailing, even in extraordinary cases.

And whatsoever thou shalt bind upon earth, it shall be bound also in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose upon earth, it shall be loosed also in heaven.

Dieu protège le Pape, vive la Papauté !

No it doesn't prove "a pope can be a heretic and still be a pope." Honorius was condemned for not doing enough to police the heresy, not because he himself was a heretic. The quote from Leo II that you provided says:

“And in like manner we anathematize the inventors of the new error, that is, Theodore, Bishop of Pharan, Cyrus of Alexandria, Sergius, Pyrrhus, Paul, and Peter, betrayers rather than leaders of the Church of Constantinople, and also Honorius, who did not attempt to sanctify this Apostolic Church with the teaching of apostolic tradition, but by profane treachery permitted its purity to be polluted.

— Pope St. Leo II

Honorius "did not attempt to sanctify [the Church]" and "permitted [the Church] purity to be polluted." Which is to say, he was a Pope who did not do his job. That is different from being a "heretic."