We all know that the Church has been infiltrated by Freemasons and Communists.
If a man presented himself for ordination to the priesthood and the presiding bishop was secretly a Freemason with no intention of doing what the Church does when conferring Sacramental Orders, in reality that man would not be a priest at all.
The following scenario is too horrible to contemplate as regards the salvation of souls but, it is highly feasible that this very situation has occurred more often than we care to admit. It takes no stretch of the imagination to assume that a Freemasonic bishop has no intention of doing what the Church does since the chief aim of Fɾҽҽmαsσɳɾყ is to destroy the Catholic Church.
Supposing a man was under the mistaken assumption that he had valid Holy Orders and was faithfull in fulfilling all his priestly duties believing in good conscience that that he was truly a priest. My question regards the impact this would have on the very salvation of souls that have been entrusted to his care. We all know that he would never be able to confect the Holy Eucharist but what about the other sacraments (excluding baptism)? I'm thinking specifically about the sacrament of confession. If a penitent was sincere and made a good confession would God in this case supply the required absolution since neither the penitent nor the pretend priest has any clue that no true sacrament was effected? I note that in sacred scripture Jesus would often say to a sinner, your faith has saved you, go and sin no more. I imagine that in this instance God in His great mercy would without question forgive the sinner since this unfortunate circuмstance is beyond the control of both parties. Does anyone know if the Church has an official teaching on this topic?
All the following quotes I took from:
http://bishopjosephmarie.org/doctrine/wolvesamongthesheep.html#9endMinimum Requirements for Valid Consecration to the EpiscopacyFor a valid consecration to take place, surprising little is required:
1. The consecrating bishop must use the proper matter and form, accompanied by the proper intention.
2. The recipient being consecrated must be a validly baptized male and a validly ordained priest, and have the proper intention.
3. There must be a validly consecrated bishop bestowing the Sacrament.
They [Freemasons] declare repeatedly that Christ is either a scandal or foolish; indeed, not rarely, that there is no God, and they teach that the soul of man dies together with the body: the codes and statutes, by which they explain their goals and ordinances openly declare that all the things which We have already mentioned, and which pertain to the overthrowing of Legitimate Rulers and
totally destroying the Church come forth from them. And this has been ascertained and must be considered as certain, that these sects, although in name different, nevertheless have been joined among themselves by an impious bond of filthy goals.” (Quo Graviora – Apostolic Constitution of Pope Leo XII, March 13, 1826)
Those secret societies of factious men who, completely opposed to God and to princes,
are wholly dedicated to bringing about the fall of the Church, the destruction of kingdoms, and disorder in the whole world…Their law is untruth: their god is the devil and their cult is turpitude… Our predecessors, Clement XII, Benedict XIV, Pius VII, Leo XII, repeatedly condemned with anathema that kind of secret society…” (Traditi Humilitati - Encyclical of Pope Pius VIII ,May 24, 1829)
Such that they profane and defile the passion of Jesus Christ by certain of their impious ceremonies, that
they despise the Sacraments of the Church (for which they seem to substitute other new things invented by themselves through their supreme wickedness) and despise the very mysteries of the Catholic Religion and that they overthrow this Apostolic See against which, because on it the Sovereignty of the Apostolic Chair has always flourished, (S. Aug. Epist. 43.) they are roused by a certain unparalleled hate and they
devise every dangerous destructive plot." (Constitution of Pope Pius VII – Ecclesiam a Jesu Christo – 9/13/1821)
"
They are planning the destruction of holy Church publicly and openly, and this with the set purpose of utterly despoiling the nations of Christendom… Their chief dogmas are so greatly and manifestly at variance with reason that nothing can be more perverse.
To wish to destroy the religion and the Church which God Himself has established... their ultimate purpose forces itself into view – namely,
the utter overthrow of that whole religious and political order of the world which the Christian teaching has produced... and now the time has come when the partisans of the sects openly declare, what in secret among themselves they have for a long time plotted, that
the sacred power of the Pontiffs must be abolished, and that the papacy itself, founded by divine right,
must be utterly destroyed. If other proofs were wanting, this fact would be sufficiently disclosed by the testimony of men well informed, of whom some at other times, and others again recently, have declared it to be true of the Freemasons that they
especially desire to assail the Church with irreconcilable hostility, and that they will never rest until they have destroyed whatever the supreme Pontiffs have established for the sake of religion." (Humanum Genus, Encyclical of Pope Leo XIII, 4/20/1884)
The defenders of this external intention supposition rely on a false premise, based principally upon the misapplication of Pope Leo XIII’s encyclical Apostolicae Curae9 against the validity of Anglican Orders, which causes them to embrace a highly improbable scholastic theory which states that the “external intention” alone is sufficient for sacramental validity.
In support of their position, they often quote a certain portion of this encyclical which states that: “A person who has correctly and seriously used the requisite matter and form to effect and confer a sacrament is presumed for that very reason to have intended to do what the Church does.” But in presenting this sentence out of the context of the paragraph which contained it, they either naively or deceptively distort the whole of what Pope Leo XIII taught. Here is the paragraph in its entirety:
“With this inherent defect of 'form' is joined the
defect of 'intention' which is equally essential to the Sacrament. The Church does not judge about the mind and intention, in so far as it is something by its nature internal;
but in so far as it is manifested externally she is bound to judge concerning it. A person who has correctly and seriously used the requisite matter and form to effect and confer a sacrament is presumed for that very reason to have intended to do what the Church does. On this principle rests the doctrine that a Sacrament is truly conferred by the ministry of one who is a heretic or unbaptized, provided the Catholic rite be employed. On the other hand, if the rite be changed, with the manifest intention of introducing another rite not approved by the Church and of rejecting what the Church does, and what, by the institution of Christ, belongs to the nature of the Sacrament, then it is clear that not only is the necessary intention wanting to the Sacrament, but that the intention is adverse to and destructive of the Sacrament.”
“According to the almost general opinion of modern theologians, an inner intention is necessary for the valid administration of the Sacraments… The mere external intention is not compatible with the concept of doing what the Church intends, or with the status of the minister as a servant of Christ, or with the religious determination of the sacramental sign…” (Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma, Ludwig Ott, 1955)
“The Church teaches very unequivocally that for the valid conferring of the sacraments, the minister must have the intention of doing at least what the Church does. This is laid down with great emphasis by the Council of Trent. (Sess. VII). The opinion once defended by such theologians as Catharinus and Salmeron (theologians at Trent) that there need only be the intention to perform deliberately the external rite proper to each sacrament, and that, as long as this was true, the interior dissent of the minister from the mind of the Church would not invalidate the sacrament, no longer finds adherents. The common doctrine now is that a real internal intention to act as a minister of Christ, or to do what Christ instituted the sacraments to effect… is required… Whatever may be said speculatively about the opinion of Ambrosius Catharinus who advocated the sufficiency of an external intention in the minister, it may not be followed in practice, because, outside of cases of necessity, no one may follow a probable opinion against one that is safer, when there is question of something required for the validity of a sacrament.” (The Catholic Encyclopedia, Vol. VIII, p. 69)
This necessary internal intention is further confirmed by St. Thomas Aquinas:
“I answer that, The minister’s intention may be perverted in two ways. First in regard to the Sacrament: for instance, when a man does not intend to confer a Sacrament, but to make a mockery of it. Such a perverse intention takes away the truth of the Sacrament, especially if it be manifested outwardly.” (Summa Theologica, 3rd, 64, 10.)
And by St. Alphonsus:
“For the validity of the Sacraments there is required in the minister neither faith nor probity, but rather power (and jurisdiction in some Sacraments), as well as the intention or will, at least virtual and absolute, or the equivalent of this, of doing,
not that external act only, but that Sacrament, or at least of doing what the Church does or what Christ instituted… the confection of a Sacrament requires such an intention which determines the action to be sacramental, and which removes the indifference of the words and actions;
but an intention only of doing the external action, which could be referred to other ends, is not such an intention. Thus the Council of Trent defined that a “Sacrament” performed in jest would be invalid, contrary to Luther.” (Theologia Moralis: Bk. 6, Pt. 1 - emphasis supplied)
The Church’s Teaching Regarding Doubtful SacramentsWe turn to St. Alphonsus Maria Liguori, who is a Doctor of the Catholic Church and the Patron Saint of Confessors, Theologians and Moralists. One of the greatest among his 111 written works is his book on moral theology (Theologica Moralis). Here he reiterated the Church’s teaching in determining sacramental validity in cases of doubt.9a It is given at some length so as to enable the reader to grasp the full import of this important doctrine of the Church which is so applicable to our situation today:
“
- ne must take note of the different species of probability: for one opinion may be barely probable, another probable, another more probable, another most probable, another morally certain, another safe, another safer. An opinion is barely probable which depends on some foundation, but not such that would prevail upon a prudent man to assent to it; but this kind of opinion we are unable to use. That is probable, which rests on a grave foundation, either intrinsically of
reason or extrinsically of authority, such that it would prevail upon a prudent man to assent to it, although with respect for the opposite opinion. That is more probable (or highly probable), which rests on a more grave foundation, but also with prudent respect for the opposite, such that the contrary may also be thought to be probable. That is most probable, which rests on a most grave foundation, such that the opposite is thought to be barely or doubtfully probable; we may always licitly use such an opinion. An opinion is
morally certain, which excludes all prudent fear of error, such that the opposite is reputed as altogether improbable. Finally, an opinion is safe, which recedes from every danger of sinning. But that is safer (or very safe), which recedes greatly from such danger, even if it does not rely on firmer reasons.”
“Thence it should be noted that there is a probability of fact and another of law. A probability of fact is that which revolves around the truth of a thing, or the substance of a thing, such as whether in a
Sacrament, the use of such matter would be valid or invalid…”
“This established, it is
never lawful to use a probable opinion with the probability of fact when there is danger of harm to another or to oneself; because this kind of probability by no means removes the danger of harm: for if the opinion is false, harm to one’s neighbor or to the one acting will not be evaded. For example, baptism attempted using saliva is truly invalid, so that an infant would remain unbaptized; probability in the opposite opinion is certainly unable to effect its validity. Hence:
1. It is
not licit, in a matter of faith and in everything which appears to be a necessary means of eternal salvation, to follow a less probable opinion (as was ineptly said in Prop. 4, proscribed [condemned] by Innocent XI) nor a more probable one; rather we are bound to follow the safer opinion…”
4. In the
administration of the Sacraments, a minister may use neither a probable opinion nor a more probable opinion concerning their validity, but is bound to follow a safe opinion; that is, one that is either very safe or morally certain."
“Therefore,
it must always be said, that it is never licit to use a probable opinion with the probability of fact, where there is danger of harm or injury to one’s neighbor.”10 (Theologica Moralis, Book 1, Chapter 3, Of Probable Conscience).