Sedevacantists hold the See to be certainly vacant, whereas the sede-doubtist position holds that there's grave doubt and suspicion that must be addressed and resolved by Church authority.
In the main, I don't think they really do. The term is a short hand way of saying we don't accept the legitimacy of these men. Or even more accurate, these men head an ecclesiastical body which we do not belong to.
Nobody has a complete and detailed explanation for what actually transpired over the last fifty-plus years. We just know that you can't reject the new religion without rejecting the men who gave birth and nurtured it.
Can the average Catholic say that there is a definite state of Sede Vacante?
I am going to even bump your statement and say a child can come up with that theological conclusion without anyone helping him. The problem is not the ability of the mind of reaching that conclusion is that once someone has jumped to the conclusion then there comes the whole crowd of people that will convince you otherwise. I see it all the time, new Catholic convert to the faith finds out about these impostor's their first response is a Sedevacantist position even if they don't know how to spell it out (their position is very much the same, however they really can't explain it well at this point). They then go and get re-catechized by their local indult/sspx/indie priest/friend who will convince them of how wrong it is etc...
Reminds me of an older Catholic Family News article, where John put something about some traditional kids who showed some indult kids pictures of Assisi of anti JP II, committing communicatio in sacris, blasphemy, sacrilige, heresy all in one little place at the same time. The indult kids, accused the traditionalist of Photoshopping and editing the entire video/photos! Those kids simply could not believe or even give in to the remote possibility that such a thing could happen... I don't blame them, simple Baltimore Catechism for first Holy Communion was enough for me to conclude that these men were not true Popes only later after I expressed my opinion to the SSPX priest, did I change my position. I essentially trusted the learning of my pastor, and I deferred my opinion to his, but my initial Catholic sense rejected the notion of these men possessing authority over Catholic souls precisely because of heresy. Not only can the average Catholic reach this conclusion, but even a First Holy communion theology is enough of a background to achieve this conclusion. The usual problem is everyone fighting against the most simple, obvious intuitive answer. Its so simple, it is stupefying this is why you see a BARRAGE of articles that are completely a-priori anti-Sedevacantist articles on all your traditionalist newspapers/bloggers etc... Now more then ever, because it doesn't take a genius to take the leap to Sedevacantism after reading a few of Bergoglio's extra-curricular activities to say the least.
The only reason why SV'ism is not "binding" in the same way as other solemn magisterial teachings are, is because one can still believe in all the Petrine dogmas while at the same time accepting a wrongful claimant. This can be due to several factors ignorance, not aware of what is going on because of external factor's like persecution/underground Church type of scenario so take China/North Korea as an example. Most Catholics over there can be presumed to be operating under good will, since they really don't have any access to ANY information as far as we are aware probably most of them have never even read Vatican II or could even spell it if you asked them to. However, this conclusion is certainly more binding to those who have the information etc... You will not be judged in the same way if you were capable of understanding this conclusion, as lets say someone who is partially retarded etc... To those who know more, more will be expected in the day of Judgement. So maybe the Lord will not damn you for taking a specific position, but what if by your indifference many people were not so fortunate to make so many distinctions and fell into serious heresies because of your lack of a spine. So that could include friends/relatives etc... I.e. not promoting a hardcore resistance position or SV'ism will inevitably lead you to heresy overtime, only these two positions can keep you free from accepting error. In both positions you reject the teaching authority of Conciliar Church, and thus you are free from their clutches into your intellect. You can still be damned by sins of impurity etc... However, you can actually have a shot at being saved so long as you follow the commandments of God, frequent the sacraments (if you have it available to you) etc...
Topic: BOTH Sedevacantism AND Sedeplenism are WRONG !!! (Read 12538 times)