Bp. Williamson excuses the pope and his cardinals, arguing that they can not help themselves because they are basically insane, and separated from objective reality. Since these men are so disoriented, through really no fault of their own, (if I understand Williamson's reasoning), we can go on believing that they are still cardinals, bishops and pope. He seems to imply that if the pope, the bishops and the cardinals were perceived to be deliberately opposing and denying objective truth, they might, then, lose their "exalted position(s)" in his estimation.
But since they are not "aware that they are not sane," we continue to honor them in those postions, and are instructed to act in charitable obedience towards them. Yet, not really. Because Bp. Williamson declares that he will not "associate" with the Conciliar church, as long as it continues in its subjective insanity. Go figure!
I'm not sure I can cut church leaders, including the Pope, as much slack as Bp. Williamson does. I am not persuaded that a number of these high churchmen have actually taken leave of their senses. Rather, I consider them to be conscious, deliberate revolutionaries, bent upon the destruction of Holy Mother Church. Many of them, including maybe even the Pope, are at least as sane as Luther, Calvin and Marx.
We may conclude that the Pope acts sincerely (though insanely), in good faith,according to his own lights But let me serve up one example which seem to put to put the lie to this perception, at least on some level:
Cardinal Ratzinger read the Third Secret. He knows exactly what Sr. Lucia wrote and what the true contents of that Secret are. Yet, he was one of the chief promoters of the so-called "Secret," published in June of 2000. We know now, beyond reasonable doubt, that Bertone and Ratzinger deliberately held back the full truth of it. In other words, they lied! The Pope, to this day, as touching the Third Secret, knows what the "objective" truth is. Or are we to believe, as a practical application of Bp. Williamson's argument might suggest, that the contents of the Third Secret have undergone some kind of transmogrification in the pope's subjectively delusional mind?