Kozin:The blatant logical contradiction embedded in the first statement, that a man whom he (Williamson) resolutely maintains is the Vicar of Christ could also be guilty of leading the entire Church into heresy, provides us with a classic example of cognitive dissonance impossible to ignore. For implicit in this statement is a contradiction in terms so stark that, when expressed clearly, renders the statement completely nonsensical, i.e. a person could be at one and the same time both the Vicar of Christ and a Manifest Heretic actively working for the destruction of souls!
Kozin doesn’t break any new ground. He simply reiterates. the question to which there is no answer. It’s been asked and answered over and over again. The question is always the same. The answer assumes various hues, depending upon who is doing the answering. I understand the average sede, who insists that a pope must be Catholic, or, at the very least, must not be seeming to either contradict, contravene, or override catholic tradition and dogma. It makes sense to me. His position, though it may be false, is nevertheless reasonable. I don’t much like it myself that I should be forced to believe that a ‘pig’s ear’ is really a ‘silk purse.’
I know that Dr. Chojnowski believes that if there is no pope, there is no church. He’s said it a number of times in my presence. His position reminds me somewhat of Robert Faurrison’s with regard to the mythical ‘gas chambers.’ Faurrison, the famous h0Ɩ0cαųst denier, stated flatly that “if there are no holes, there are no gas chambers.” Chojnowski is equally dogmatic.
Personally, I don’t know. The agnostic position is the safest one at this point.