Honorius I, Vatican II and the SSPX - Guest article by James Baresel

As is well known, Pope Honoris I stated in a letter to Patriarch Sergius of Constantinople that “we confess one will of our Lord Jesus Christ”—despite the Church’s dogmatic teaching that Christ has both a divine will and a human will—and was posthumously anathematized by the Third Council of Constantinople.

 

What is not generally known, what is, in fact, virtually unknown, is that Pope John IV taught that Christ “never had two contrary wills [his human will being perfectly subordinate to his divine will] …we fittingly say and truthfully confess [in a metaphorical sense] one will” and that, therefore, Honorius’s letter was not intrinsically heretical its precise wording—because it did not state whether “one will” was meant literally or metaphorically.

 

Continuity, Rupture, or Both? Vatican II and the SSPX

Continuity, Rupture or Both? Vatican II and the SSPX

Guest article by James Baresel

Twenty years ago, Pope Benedict XVI gave his well-known address on interpreting Vatican II with a “hermeneutic of continuity” rather than a “hermeneutic of rupture.” Welcome as that seemed, details were never explained, distinctions never made, ways that forms of rupture can exist beside forms of continuity ignored.

At the most obvious level, any infallible teachings promulgated by Vatican II must be in continuity with tradition. (No dogmatic definitions infallible in and of themselves were promulgated.) The continuity of non-infallible teachings must be considered probable. Were that the beginning and end of the matter, the Society of Saint Pius X’s condemnation of Vatican II as a break with tradition would constitute a simple refusal to give its teachings due submission.

But there is much more to it.