The Rule of Faith is the Magisterium or teaching Church. There is no doubt on that.
Correct, Canterella, but what are the teachings of the magisterium but doctrine and the catechism? And what is doctrine and the catechism but the re-teaching of “what has always been taught” for 1,900 years. Thus, the magisterium’s job is to safeguard and teach doctrine, which is the rule of faith.
If the current magisterium/hierarchy fails to do their job, then Catholics must turn to historical, orthodox teachings (ie doctors of the church and previous saintly popes) to help them learn the faith, which is exactly what trads have done.
The question of the status of the non-orthodox magisterium is largely academic, as it's none of our jobs to come to any conclusions about their future or punishments, etc. Our job is to know, love and serve God, and we have 1,900 yrs of consistent Church Teaching on how to do this. Everything else, including the status of the pope, is largely a distraction - especially for we laity.
As +W has been pointing out the past 3 weeks in his newsletters, our families are in crisis, young trads are leaving Church altogether, families are being ripped apart by immorality and many trad priests/bishops are STILL (after 20+ years?!) spending their time arguing about the status of the pope? REALLY? Is this the most pressing matter of the day? Hardly. The battle for souls has moved from the streets into the home and many priests have their heads stuck in theology books - too busy to notice and too worried about which “group” (ie sspx vs sede) is “winning”. What an insane world we live in.