Peter DeLoca : In the passage you cite, St. Alphonsus speaks of one who is exclusively accepted by the whole Church, after an election to fill a certain vacancy. Nowhere does St. Alphonsus say a heretic elected while the chair is still occupied would be a valid pope if universally accepted. An invalid election can be healed at the root if the chair is vacant. Universal acceptance of a pope-elect while the chair is occupied does not unseat a reigning pontiff. Secondly, under certain specified conditions the universal acceptance of a claimant establishes the dogmatic fact that the individual in question is the valid pope. Such a dogmatic fact is a matter of divine law, which cannot be nullified by the mere legislation of any human power. (If it did not pertain to divine law, it could not establish a dogmatic fact.) Therefore, the ruling of Paul IV (cuм Ex Apostolatus Officio), confirmed by Pius V (Inter Multiplices), which sets forth the nullity of an election of a pope who is subsequently discovered to be a heretic, even if he receives universal acceptance (adorationem, seu ei praestitam ab omnibus obedientiam), is not a nerely ecclesiastical law enacted by a pope, but is an application of divine law which establishes that universal acceptance does not heal at the root the invalid election of a heretic.