When Obedience Becomes Sin

This is a serious question being asked by many Catholic priests and the faithful laity.

The devil’s tactic since the promulgation of the Second Vatican Council (the council of infiltration and destruction) has been this blind obedience.

This “obedience” has been used by enemies of Christ within the Church to silence those who question radical un-Catholic changes that do not align with what the Church has always taught or always done, pressuring them simply to “obey.”

Yet, the reality and end of our act of obedience is what Archbishop Viganò said regarding Pope Francis last year: “We will be judged, not for the scandals of Bergoglio and his accomplices, but for our fidelity to the teaching of Christ.”

Therefore, with so many scandals, heresies, and lies being told today, it is very important to know what is true obedience and what is false obedience, so that we do not fall into the devil’s trap and displease God.

For we owe God obedience before men!

Obedience is only a moral virtue, and above it stand the four cardinal virtues (Justice, Temperance, Prudence, Fortitude), and above those, the three theological virtues (Faith, Hope, Charity).

It follows, therefore, that obedience in the order of the virtues cannot contradict the higher virtues. For example, obeying a person that is your superior who asks you to pitch some incense in a ecumenical worship service to Buddha would contradict the virtue of Faith.

As St. Thomas Aquinas says in the Summa, Article 3, Question 104 regarding Obedience: “And so those, namely the theological, virtues whereby he adheres to God in Himself, are greater than the moral virtues, whereby he holds in contempt some earthly thing in order to adhere to God.”

Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò had this to say concerning obedience (emphasis mine):“The Church does not belong to the Pope, and even less does she belong to a clique of heretics and fornicators that has succeeded in coming to power by deception and fraud. Therefore, we ought to unite our supernatural faith in the constant action of God in the midst of His people with a work of resistance, as counseled by the Fathers of the Church...Catholics have the duty of opposing the infidelity of their Shepherds, because the obedience that they owe them is aimed at the glory of God and the salvation of souls. We therefore denounce everything that represents a betrayal of the mission of the Shepherds, imploring the Lord to shorten these times of trial….Therefore, let us pray. Let us pray very much and with fervor, mindful of the words of the Savior and of His final victory. We will be judged, not for the scandals of Bergoglio and his accomplices, but for our fidelity to the teaching of Christ.... a fidelity that begins with living in God’s grace, receiving the Sacraments frequently, and offering sacrifices and penances for the salvation of the Ministers of God...”

His Excellency Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre said it well and stated that (emphasis mine):“Obedience is a serious matter; to remain united to the Church’s Magisterium and particularly to the Supreme Pontiff is one of the conditions of salvation…We are attached to the Pope for as long as he echoes the Apostolic Traditions and the teachings of all his predecessors. It is the very definition of the successor of Peter that he is the keeper of this Deposit. Pius IX teaches us in Pastor Aeternus: ‘The Holy Ghost has not in fact been promised to the successors of Peter to permit them to proclaim new doctrine according to His revelations, but to keep strictly and to expound faithfully, with His help, the revelations transmitted by the Apostles, in other words the Deposit of Faith.’…The authority delegated by Our Lord to the Pope, the Bishops and the priesthood in general is for the service of faith. To make use of law, institutions and authority to annihilate the Catholic Faith and no longer to transmit life, is to practice spiritual abortion or contraception…… We therefore choose to keep it and we cannot be mistaken in clinging to what the Church has taught for two thousand years. The crisis is profound, cleverly organized and directed, and by this token one can truly believe that the master mind is not a man but Satan himself. For it is a master-stroke of Satan to get Catholics to disobey the whole of Tradition in the name of obedience. St. Paul has warned us: ‘Even if an angel from Heaven came to tell you anything other than what I have taught you, do not listen to him.’ Such is the secret of true obedience.”

Fr. Hesse rightly said (emphasis mine):“Obedience itself can only be defined by the Ten Commandments and Church Tradition….Holy Mass the way you and I know it,(the Traditional Tridentine Latin Mass) is part of the state of the Church, status Ecclesiae. If the Pope tries to change that, you say: “Sorry, Holy Father, but we can’t follow that. Too bad!” If the Pope tries to change anything that is part of the status Ecclesiae and you follow him, and you should know better, then you’re in the state of mortal sin, unless you don’t know better. But to follow the Pope into error means not obedience but sin. Remember what St. Paul says: if an angel out of heaven was to bring you another Gospel, don’t accept it. Even an Angel himself. So those of you who understand poetry, what Chesterton means when he says: “If an angel out of heaven brings you other things to drink, thank him for his kind attentions, go and pour them down the sink.” - this is what he really means. Chesterton himself drank beer and barrels of it, so what he says in this poem means: don’t allow anything to creep into the Gospel in its purity as is was preserved by the Church. You see this in a way is the Gospel, because Father and I, up there on the altar - we’re not allowed to do that, but Father and I up there on the altar can turn this innocent looking glass of wine into the Blood of Christ, if we used it for Mass. We’d be committing a sin, because we’re not allowed to use a glass chalice and we’re not allowed to use this type of wine, we have to use Mass wine. The point is, we can do it. So this is representing the purity of the Gospel, and that’s what Chesterton meant. Anybody who dares to interfere with the purity of Church teaching, to interfere with the purity of Church tradition, to interfere with the purity of the Gospel, is a messenger of the devil, not an angel. Even if it is the Pope himself.”

Fr. Hesse makes a very clear understanding when he says: “What is the limit of obedience towards the Pope? Aren’t we bound in total obedience to the Pope? The answer is: definitely not.

What are the limits to the Pope’s freedom of decision? Well, the Pope cannot go against the following four things:

First of all, he cannot contradict the gospel.

Second, he cannot contradict the Church Fathers.

Third, he cannot contradict the first four Councils as such. And he cannot contradict any further Council as long as it is dogmatically defined. Dogmatically defined things he cannot contradict. Things that a Council decided forever such as moral decisions, he cannot contradict. If we’re talking about disciplinary regulations which were always issued at Councils and which nobody bothers to put in a collection of Church teaching, yes of course he can. But not dogmatic and moral decisions of a Council.

Four, he cannot contradict what is called the ‘status Ecclesiae.’ The ‘state’ of the Church.

The ‘state’ doesn’t mean the present situation, like the state you find yourself in right now. The ‘state’ is something unchangeable. I am in the status religionis, the status sacerdotalis. The state of my life is being a priest and no matter if I go to heaven, purgatory or hell, I will still be a priest. I am sacerdos in aeternum, a priest in eternity. God Himself cannot take away my priesthood because He has decided to give it to me and He cannot contradict Himself. My good friend, the Italian composer Antonio Vivaldi - most of you only know his ‘Four Seasons,’ which is sad, he wrote 450 beautiful concertos and 30 operas - Antonio Vivaldi is dead, ever since 28th July 1741. Antonio Vivaldi is still a priest. Claudio Monteverdi, his predecessor in music, is still a priest today. Once a priest, always a priest. You know, like they say “Once in the army, always in the army,” but that means as long as you live. A priest is in eternity, always, always in the army of God. So I’m in the status sacerdotalis, that doesn’t change, it can’t change. Sister right here, or a bishop, are in the status perfectionis, or the state of perfection. That ‘state of life’ as you call it in English, is basically unchangeable once you’re in it. For a bishop it is perfectly unchangeable, for Sister it is relatively unchangeable. The state of the Church is something the Church finds herself in unchangeably, forever.”

The full talk by Father Hesse On The Papacy And The Crisis In The Church is avaivle to listen to here. Fr. Gregory Hesse, S.T.D., J.C.D., S.T.L., J.C.L., a Canon Lawyer, Doctor of Thomistic Theology, Lifelong Friend and Personal Secretary of Cardinal Stickler at the Vatican from 1986-1988 gives a no-nonsense, intelligent, learned, and witty exposition and explanation of relevant topics facing contemporary faithful Catholics. Take note that John Paul II was Pope at the time of this talk.