Pope Benedict XIV before he was elected Pope, and as a theologian wrote the following, quoting many high authorities to support his assertions.
De Synodo Diocesana Libri Tredecim, Book VI, Chapter V (this book may be found on archive.org)
What has been said in the previous chapter is confirmed by the example of the communication apparently of Catholics with heretics in the Divine, and even more so of the marriage of Catholics with heretics.
I. The degree to which the Church has abominated the fellowship of Catholics with heretics, is clearly proved from the second epistle of the Apostle John, in which, in verses 10 and 11, he admonished his disciples in this wise: If any man come to you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into the house nor say to him, God speed you. For he that saith unto him, God speed you, communicateth with his wicked works. And moreover, from the epistle of the Apostle Paul to Titus, chap. 3, v. 10: A man that is a heretic, after the first and second admonition, avoid. Hence the same Apostle John, in order that he might precede others by his own example, refused to wash in the same bathhouse with Cerinthus the heretic, but said to his fellows: Let us flee more swiftly, lest the bathhouse, in which is Cerinthus the adversary of truth, should topple forthwith: as Irenaeus, Jerome, and Epiphanius testify. And St. Polycarp the bishop of Smyrna, instructed by the example of his Teacher, hostile and not daring to return the salutation to Marcion, who had greeted him, said: I know the firstborn of the devil.
And so tenacious was the great Anthony in the discipline of this kind, that of him Athanasius writes, in De vita Antonii, num. 68, tom. 1, part. 2. Oper. pag. 847: Never did he communicate with the Meletian schismatics, considering from the beginning their proven malice and defection. Nor did he ever exchange words amicably with the Manichæans, or with any other heretics whatsoever, except for the sake of admonishing, in order that, their opinion being changed, they might hold to the godly Faith, regarding as he did their friendship and conversations to be harmful and pernicious to the soul; and he warned others likewise. Innumerable Canons of the Church have renewed this prohibition, but most of all do they press hard lest Catholics should communicate with heretics in sacred things, or lest they should frequent the gatherings of the same. Amongst the Apostolic Canons, the Forty-Fifth, known alternately as the Thirty-Seventh, sets down: Let the Bishop, Presbyter, and Deacon who should merely pray with heretics be deprived of communion: and the Sixty-Fifth, alternately the Sixty-Fourth or Fifty-Seventh: If any cleric or lay person should enter into a ѕуηαgσgυє of the Jews, or of heretics, in order to pray, let him be put away, and separated.
The Synod of Laodicea decreed something similar in can. 9 from the version of Dionysius Exiguus, tom. 1 of Collect. Harduinus col. 781: That Ecclesiastics are not permitted at the cemeteries of heretics, or to accede to those which by them are called martyr’s graves, for the sake of prayer or service: but ones of this sort, if they should be Faithful, are to be deprived of communion for a certain time. And the Fourth Council of Carthage, canon. 72. tom. 1. of Collect. Harduinus col. 983, which council Augustine praises in a sermon to the people of Mauretania Cæsariensis, says: One must neither pray nor sing psalms with heretics. Hence Cyril of Jerusalem, in catech. IV. n. 37. in fin. bids his catechumen to despise all the assemblies of the perfidious heretics: and the same is advised by the other Fathers, whom Christianus Lupus adduces in schol. et not. ad canon. Concil. tom. 5. edition. Venet. pag. 60 et seq.
II. And nevertheless, such is the miserable condition of our times, that in many provinces in which heresies either dominate, or are advancing, with impunity do Catholics come under the harsh necessity of having converse with heretics, and of engaging familiarly with them. But although, by the Canon approved by Martin V in the Council of Constance which has the incipit Ad evitanda and indeed endured always in its vigor, notwithstanding subsequent contrary Constitutions of the Councils of Basil and the Lateran—although the discipline was somewhat relaxed as regarded converse and also communication in divinis with heretics who are tolerated and have not been denounced expressly as to be avoided, as Cabassut diffusely treats the matter in Iuris canonici theoria et praxis, lib. V, c. 11, num. 3 et seq.;—nevertheless, Catholics ought not to think that it is therefore acceptable for them to communicate in things sacred and divine with heretics, though these be not denounced: and indeed, Paul V, after a mature examination of the matter, defined that it was never permitted to Catholics of the Kingdom of England to enter into the churches of heretics, and to be present at the rites which they practice therein, as may be read in two decrees promulgated by the same Pontiff, namely, one in the year 1606, the other in 1607, both of which are referred by Cardinal de Lauræa, In III Sent., part. 2, tom. 3, disp. 11. art. 9. §4. num. 292. We are indeed not at all unaware, that there are Theologians, absolving Catholics of all fault who communicate in divinis with heretics and schismatics not denounced by name, and who even receive the Sacraments from the same, so long as these circuмstances simultaneously concur: the first, namely, that a very grave and urgent cause drive Catholics to the aforesaid communication; secondly, that the heretics and schismatics, from whom they request the Sacraments, be validly ordained, in order that they might minister the sacred things according to the Catholic rite, without any admixture of a condemned rite; thirdly, that communication with these same in divinis be not an external protestation of false dogma, the sort which entry into the churches of the Protestants was when Paul V prohibited the Catholics of England from that—thus the edicts of the King had commanded all to approach the churches of the heretics, so that in this way, they would profess themselves to think with Protestants. Fourthly and finally, that the communication of Catholics in divinis with heretics cause scandal to no one.
Now in the first place, the aforementioned opinion of the Theologians has its adversaries, nor is it admitted by all to be safe in practice: hence, that being admitted, since all the circuмstances enumerated ought to be present together simultaneously in order that the society of Catholics with the heterodox in sacred things might be free of all fault (as Sylvius teaches, In IIIam, q. 64, a. 6, quæsit. 3, concl. 3; Cardinal de Lugo, De fide, disp. 22, sect. 1, n. 11; Thomas de Jesus, De conversione omnium gentium procuranda, lib. VIII, pars II, §4, p. 556ff; Cardinal Albizzi, De inconstantia in fide, cap. 18, n. 30ff; Cardinal Gotti, In IIamIIæ, q. 4, dub. 6, §3), thus it is nearly impossible that it come about in practice that Catholics would be able to be excused from scandal when mixing themselves up in sacred things with heretics or schismatics. For this reason, the Congregations of the holy City, namely the Holy Office, and the Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith, have always reputed communication of this sort of which we speak to be illicit, and, when We were then dwelling amongst the minors and putting forth zealous effort, set forth a learned instruction to be transmitted to Missionaries—for it was necessary—wherein reasons are weighed on account of which it can hardly ever happen that the communication of Catholics in divinis with heretics be harmless.
Topic: Communication with Heretics (Read 108 times)