Sed contra: The Pope’s authority is for unity in the Faith (not unity in the pope). The job of St. Peter is to „keep the Faith‟, to be a sheperd. His authority serves the Faith, but faith does not serve authority. When an exercise of authority demonstrably departs from or harms the Faith, obedience in that specific matter may cease to be a virtue, and in fact, becomes a sin.

Sed contra: The Church’s indefectibility means she cannot universally promulgate error as binding dogma or defect from the Faith. It does not mean every papal disciplinary act is wise, prudent, or cannot be resisted if it demonstrably harms souls or the Faith. The Holy Spirit’s assistance protects the Pope from defining heresy, not necessarily from personal error or harmful non-infallible actions.

To be right in everything, we ought always to hold that the white which I see is black, if the hierarchical church so decides it.

Church, 13]()

St. Ignatius of Loyola  — Spiritual Exercises, Rules for Thinking with the

This implies a total submission of judgment, even against clear evidence.

Sed contra: St. Ignatius’s rule is about the disposition to believe what the Church teaches in matters of Faith, not to accept as true what is manifestly false to reason or to obey sinful commands. It does not mean that, if the Pope commands me to (physically or spiritually) jump off a cliff, I say: „yes sir‟ and jump.

Even Bellarmine states that if a Pope commanded vice, the Church must not obey him in that, lest she sin against conscience.

The faith is necessary for me to such an extent that, having God as my only judge in other sins, I could however be judged by the Church for sins I might commit in matters of faith.

Pope Innocent III  — Sermon 4, On the Consecration of a Pontiff (PL 217, 670)

St. Robert Bellarmine, a Doctor of the Church, teaches that „unjust laws of the pope do not bind in conscience.‟

The pope can fall into heresy… Unjust laws of the pope do not bind in conscience… The pope is neither the temporal ruler of the world nor the Christian world… he has the supreme temporal power only indirectly.

Fr. Gregory Hesse  — On the Limits of Papal Power, (timestamp varies)

While the Pope possesses supreme, full, immediate, and universal ordinary power in the Church, this authority is not absolute, arbitrary, or detached from its divine purpose: the salvation of souls and the faithful transmission of the Deposit of Faith.

Papal authority is limited by various laws, as the pope is the „Servor Servorum Fidem‟, the server of servants of the Faith:

The Holy Ghost was promised to the successors of Peter not so that they might, by His revelation, make known some new doctrine, but that, by His assistance, they might religiously guard and faithfully expound the revelation or Deposit of Faith transmitted by the Apostles.

First Vatican Council, Pastor Aeternus, Ch. 4  — Denzinger 1836 (DS 3070)

If anyone says that the received and approved rites of the Catholic Church, wont to be used in the solemn administration of the sacraments, may be contemned, or without sin be omitted at pleasure by the ministers, or be changed by any pastor of the churches into other new ones: let him be anathema.

Council of Trent, Session VII, Canon 13 on the Sacraments in General  — Denzinger 856 (DS 1613)

St. Pius V, in his Bull Quo Primum Tempore (1570), codified the immemorial Roman Rite, stating it was for perpetual use and that no one whosoever (quiscumque – absolutely not anyone, including future popes), of whatever rank, even papal, could alter it substantially or impose a new one.

This was not mere disciplinary law but a protection of the Lex Orandi which is the Lex Credendi.

We determined that this Missal is to be used by all churches… so that they should not be obliged to celebrate Mass otherwise than as enjoined by Us… This present document cannot be revoked or modified, but remain always valid and retain its full force…

No one whosoever (quiscumque) is permitted to alter this notice of Our permission, statute, ordinance, command, precept, grant, indult, declaration, will, decree, and prohibition. Should anyone presume to attempt this, let him know that he will incur the wrath of Almighty God and of the Blessed Apostles Peter and Paul.

Pope St. Pius V, Quo Primum (1570)  — 

Subsequent Popes like Clement VIII and Urban VIII, when making minor revisions, always added their decrees to St. Pius V’s, affirming its perennial validity and stating their work was to restore it from corruptions, not to create something new. Even John XXIII, for all his modernism, added his decree to this chain.