http://www.novusordowatch.org/sspx_dossier_sede.pdf18. Next Fr. Boulet treats of the Siri thesis, a most interesting explanation of the origin of the crisis.
4.3. The Case of Cardinal Siri: It is being argued by some Sedevacantists that some very
serious defects affected the Conclaves that elected Popes John XXIII, Paul VI, then, consequently John- Paul I and John-Paul II. It is being claimed that Cardinal Giuseppe Siri, the former Archbishop of Genoa, Italy was elected Pope in the 1958, 1963 conclaves, and possibly also in 1978. Cardinal Siri was extremely popular in Italy, mostly for his strong social accomplishments in Genoa. He was also considered as a strong conservative, even though he did not publicly stand in defence of Tradition during the Vatican II council. So, apparently, Cardinal Siri had been ‘elected’ Pope at the conclave that followed the death of Pope Pius XII. Some are going as far as telling us that he had accepted the election of his fellow cardinals, and had taken the name of Gregory XVII. Shortly before such ‘election’ was to be made public to the world, a group of cardinals would have revolted against him, and forced him to renounce to the supreme pontificate. Then, Cardinal Roncalli was chosen and appeared to the world as Pope John XXIII. Some Sedevacantist pulled out a recent report from the FBI to prove such thesis. They added on that ‘Pope Siri’ secretly appointed cardinals to succeed to him in the future. Frankly, such theory doesn’t make sense, for a number of reasons. First of all there is a Church law that binds under secrecy all the proceedings of a conclave, under the penalty of excommunication for whoever would break such seal. Even if Cardinal Siri was properly elected as a Pope, it is a matter of fact that he never showed it in public. He was among the cardinals that paid allegiance to both Popes John XXIII and Paul VI. After the 1958 and 1963 conclaves, he went back to his diocese of Genoa. In 1969, though reluctantly, he adopted the Novus Ordo Missae. Meanwhile, a French priest, Father Guérin, had established a ‘conservative’ community of priests in Genoa. Back in the seventies, Father Guérin was living in Paris, France, where he used to say a weekly Novus Ordo Mass all in Latin, with biretta and incense, which I attended a couple of times. I know personally two members of Fr. Guérin’s community that have been ordained priests by Cardinal Siri. They have now an apostolate in France, and say the Novus Ordo Mass. Their ordination was held with the New Mass, though in a more conservative way. Finally, Cardinal Siri died in 1989. But, the most important reason why we must discard the “Pope Siri” theory is the fundamental principle that a peaceful acceptance of a Pope by the Universal Church is the infallible sign and effect of a valid election. All theologians agree on that point.
Cardinal Billot says: “God may allow that a vacancy of the Apostolic See last for a while. He may also permit that some doubt be risen about the legitimacy of such or such election. However, God will never allow the whole Church to recognize as Pontiff someone who is not really and lawfully. Thus, as long as a Pope is accepted by the Church, and united with her like the head is united to the body, one can no longer raise any doubt about a possible defective election...For the universal acceptance of the Church heals in the root any vitiated election.”
a) It is certainly granted that the acceptance by Cardinal Siri of the “reforms” of Vatican II is evidence that he was not a true Pope, even if he was somehow still a Catholic, which possibility I think we must grant. But in any case, a doubtful Pope is no Pope.
b) With respect to the alleged peaceful acceptance of the whole Church of Paul VI, however, let us
review the comments and questions of Fr. Boulet’s master in these questions, Xavier da Silveira.
A more attentive examination of the question would reveal, nevertheless, that even on purely theoretical grounds, an important difficulty arises, which would consist in determining precisely what is the concept of pacific and universal acceptation by the Church. For such acceptation to have been pacific and universal would it be enough that no Cardinal had contested the election? Would it be enough that in a Council, for example, almost the totality of the Bishops had signed the acts, recognizing in this way, at least implicitly, that the Pope be the true one? Would it be enough that no voice, or practically no voice had publicly given the cry of alert? Or, on the contrary, would a certain very generalized, though not always well defined, distrust be sufficient to destroy the apparently pacific and universal character of the acceptance of the Pope? And if this distrust became a suspicion in numerous spirits, a positive doubt in many, a certainty in some, would the aforementioned pacific and universal acceptance subsist? And if such distrusts, suspicions, doubts and certainties cropped out with some frequency in conversations or private papers, or now and
again in published writings, could one still classify as pacific and universal the acceptance of a Pope who was already a heretic on the occasion of his election by the Sacred College? [Da Silveira, op. cit]
In the Church as in society generally, the following wisdom applies to the present situation. “We
must recognize the chief characteristic of the modern era – a permanent state of what I call violent
peace .” Admiral James D. Watkins, USN (Ret.), former Chief of Naval Operations.
Topic: The Siri Thesis (Read 9470 times)