Bishop Josef Fessler, who was professor of canon law at the University of Vienna from 1856 to 1861 and was Secretary-General of the Vatican Council of 1870, discussed Cum Ex Apostolatus in a work that was honoured by a brief of approbation by Pius IX after it had been submitted to a committee of cardinals to examine its orthodoxy. Fessler discussed a case where a purported pope would attempt to impose heresy upon the faithful and pointed out that the election of such a man would be nullified. “If, then, as has been suggested, a man were elected Pope who might uphold heretical doctrine to the whole Church formally as Catholic doctrine de fide, or prescribe it to be held as such, then we should have the case before us for which Pope Paul IV, in the above-named Bull provides, by quashing the election of such a man to the Papacy, and declaring it ‘null and void.’” (The True and False Infallibility of the Popes, Burns and Oats, London, 1875)
Posted on: Sun, 15 Sep 2013 07:57:49 +0000
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