Brief thread on why Sedevacantism is wrong and it’s adherents would do well to learn more about the Church they purport to defend.

1. The First Vatican Council—Session 4, Chapter 2, Paragraph 5—teaches that St. Peter will have perpetual successors. https://twitter.com/englishtradcat/status/1290412465218555907

“Therefore, if anyone says that it is not by the institution of Christ the Lord himself that blessed Peter should have perpetual successors in the primacy over the whole Church; or that the Roman Pontiff is not the successor of blessed Peter in this primacy: let him be anathema."

2. The 1870 Dogmatic Constitution, “Pastor Aeternus” of the First Vatican Council reaffirmed that "it has always been necessary for every Church, e.g., the faithful throughout the world—to be in agreement with (the Roman Church) because of its preeminent authority.”

3. The idea that the Pope could be a heretic and as a consequence would automatically lose his office, leading the see to be Vacant was overruled by Pope Benedict XIV in, “De Synodo Dioecesana" and by the 1917 Code of Canon Law.

4. The notion that the See could be vacant is an affront to the the indefectibility of the Church, it nullifies Christ's promise to the Apostle Peter in, "You are Peter (the Rock), and on this rock I will build my church, and the Gates of Hell will not prevail against it.”

Like the quoted thread, Sedes often accuse the Second Vatican Council of teaching egregious heresy, this is fundamentally because they can’t discern between dogmas, doctrines or disciplines. The latter, can and has changed repeatedly throughout the Church.

5. Sedes often claim that they believe in, “an extended interregnum.” An interregnum is a period of discontinuity between the death or resignation of one Pope, to the election of another. That period is also known as, “Sede vacante” or, “the seat being vacant.” Hence the name.

This fails to recognise, however, that according to the magisterium, the administration of the Catholic Church during sede vacante falls to the College of Cardinals. If the Cardinals elect a new Pope, as they have, then the seat is no longer vacant.

Conclusion: in order for this position to be held, they have to not only reject the Second Vatican Council, but the first Vatican Council, Canon Law, the broader Magisterium, the Churches authoritative interpretation of Scripture and the entire charism of the Faith.

At which point, you cease being Catholic. You are just a sad parody possessed by the shiny superficiality of certain disciplines, calling yourself traditional while practicing tradition up to every man’s interpretation, a kind of inversion of the Protestants Sola Scriptura.