News with Commentary by Br. Alexis Bugnolo
with thanks to Fr. Walter Covens for his summary of the events and his
Here at FromRome.Info, I try to cover all the important news about the Debate over whether Pope Benedict XVI abdicated or not and whether Pope Francis is an anti-pope or not and how he could be removed from office in a canonically valid manner.
I do this for the sake of Christ, my King, to protect His Immaculate Bride from the ravaging hands and tongues of His enemies and of not a few of His friends who say things in ignorance regarding these topics.
Since my interest is in the triumph of truth over error, I am pleased when I see those who have publicly disagreed with me accept the truth, even if it takes them two years and in doing so they do not admit I was right all along. It is not that I have a charism of being right, it is that in humility I try not to ever give my own opinion, but simply repeat what experts, scholars, Doctors of the Church, Saints and Canon Law says.
Andrea Cionci has agreed with Br. Bugnolo on two points
So I am happy to announce that Andrea Cionci has at last accepted that I was right on two important points regarding Papal Elections.
- That the Cardinals must enter into conclave no later than the 20th day after the death of a Roman Pontiff, for their votes to be counted, other wise, if they do not do so, the Cardinals cannot validly elect a Pope.
- That it is sufficient that even a small number of electors convene to validly elect a pope.
Andrea Cionci has made these affirmations — my English is not an exact translation — in a conference given at Namur, Belgium to the “Piccolo Resto”, which was held in French, but where he intervened in Italian, with a translator translating live.
The first point is the exact rule from the Papal Law, Universi Domini gregis. The second is derived from the Code of Canon Law, which says that in all ecclesiastical elections, the validity of the election is not destroyed by the paucity of electors who present themselves. So in fact, even 1 Cardinal in a Conclave, or 1 layman in an Assembly of Apostolic Right, could validly elect a pope: presuming there was a proper convocation of the Conclave or Assembly. Cf. the Code of Canon Law for these conditions.
Cionci holds, though, there needs to be at least 3 Cardinals, since he misinterprets the requirement of a majority to validly elect. He evidently does not think a sole vote in a conclave of only 1 cardinal is not a majority. An opinion which shows his entire confusion on how to read the Papal Law!
The Papal Law currently in force, however, does not provide any way for electing a Pope if the Cardinals in charge of convoking a conclave fail to do so, or if none appear before the 21st day. For Cionci, this means there is no other way. But as I have said last week, only someone entirely ignorant in jurisprudence holds that a law remains in force if its fundamental condition is obstructed.
Where Andrea Cionci still is making up things
Andrea Cionci still believes, however, that only Cardinals in a Conclave can elect a pope in a valid manner, because being an opera singer and an instructor in singing, and only a journalist on the side, he has absolutely no training in Canon Law. He cannot even read Latin. I know these things because he told me himself.
He is now, however, claiming that though Pope Francis is an antipope, Cardinals can convene after his death and validly elect a true pope. While it is true that after Pope Francis’ death Cardinals can validly elect his successor, a true pope, certain conditions could invalidate that; however, Cionci is QUITE WRONG in claiming that Cardinals after the death of an ANTI-POPE can enter into conclave, since that is expressly forbidden by the Papal Law, which only allows Conclaves after the death of TRUE POPES. — I use capitals here, to shout, since having said this before, he still seems to be deaf to the truth and refuses to read what is written in the Papal Law, Universi Dominici Gregis.
I will add that during his conference he claimed that Father Ferdinando Cornet agrees with him in his position.
Cionci claims Pope Francis will resign in January of 2025
He is also claiming that “according to his sources”, Pope Francis will resign in January.
Let’s see if Andrea Cionci’s sources are valid or not, by waiting to see what happens.
Cionci wants you to know his position on Conclaves is absurd
I do not think he believes his own reasons are strong enough to convince the Cardinals, though, since he also said, during the response to Questions, that if no valid Cardinal elects a true pope before August 18, 2036, when the third-youngest will become 80 years of age and lose his right to vote, then the Church will never have a pope again. — This expressly contradicts the First Vatican Council which teaches that is the Will of God that Saint Peter have perpetual successors in the See of Rome.
So I am glad he expressed his own opinion ad absurdum, since this will help true Catholics realize that his position on the obligatory nature of always following the Papal Law is not sustainable, reasonable, or a Catholic approach, since it ends in the self-destruction of the Church by the pharasaical observance of a merely positive law.
Evidently Father Cornet also does not believe, however, that he and Cionci have good enough reasons to convince the Cardinals to act, because during the conference he asks the faithful to ask priests to pray for the graces the Cardinals need.
One slight error made by Cionci during his talk is to say that there are 30 Cardinals who can vote in a Conclave who were appointed by Popes John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI and that all of these need to be petitioned. But he fails to realize that at least 11 of them are members of the St. Gallen Mafia. So by petitioning them all, he is giving certain knowledge of his operation to the enemy.
For an throughly Catholic solution to how Pope Benedict XVI could and did have a juridically valid successor see the article, The Triump of the Lamb, here at FromRome.Info.
Videos of the Conference are in Italian and French
The conference was held apparently held on November 23, 2024, at Namur, Belgium, and 110 were expected to attend. About half of those attending came from France, some by car from Languedoc. This was the very day after I had publicly rebuked Cionci in the strongest manner for his previous positions.
The French Translator stated that the French Edition of Andrea Cionci’s Book, The Ratzinger Code, has been read by more than 1 million in the French speaking world. But she fails to mention that Father Walter Covens is its translator. — The translation was done while Pope Benedict XVI was still in life.
The conference was transmitted on the YouTube Channel: Hildegarde de Bingen, 5 days ago. See below. The owner of this channel is the woman doing the translations in the videos. So please let her know that she should mention the name of the translator, since he merits that much.
What Father Cornet said …
Father Cornet, for his part, made a grave error, in restricting the obligation of Catholics to the “laws” of the Church. He evidently has never studied jurisprudence, because the correct maxim, is that Catholics are obliged to do what is right and just, which is expressed in Divine Revelation and Apostolic Tradition, and from time to times is applied in canons and laws for particular circumstances of history. Thus he appears to be saying we should follow Canon Law or Papal Laws even if they went contrary to Apostolic or Divine Law. That would be the very heresy of Pharasaism, which Our Lord condemned in the Gospels many times.
He also said that unless a priest say he does not intent to confect a Sacrament, that the Sacrament is considered valid. The correct Catholic doctrine in such cases, is that the Sacrament IS valid, not merely considered valid, so long as a validly ordained priest using valid matter and saying the correct words, has not explicated such an intention. This difference seems small, but “to consider a thing valid” and for a thing “to be valid” are two different orders of being, the former is a mental judgement, the latter is a reality existing in this world. To attempt to quell the doubts of souls as regards the validity of a Sacrament, one has to speak of reality, not mental judgements of reality. This is the entire basis for the finding of Benedict XVI’s renunciation as non-existent in reality, even though many in their minds think or consider or judge it happened.
He said many other things, but this one strikes me as most worthy of note: that Cardinal Achille Liénart (who consecrated Archbishop Lefebrve a Bishop) before his own death confessed to being a 33rd Degree Freemason; and that he, Father Cornet, knows this personally, because he knew the Cardinal in life. Since the Cardinal died in 1973, however, I wonder how a Argentine in his sixties, like Father Cornet, barely at the age of maturity, would know personally a Cardinal in France? Perhaps I misunderstand how he phrased this. However, the report that the Cardinal confessed to being a Freemason before death has already been published more than 15 years ago, here.