Barnhardt's error on Substantial Error

Catholic Dictionary

Term

SUBSTANTIAL ERROR

Definition

In contractual matters, ignorance or misjudgment about the essential nature, main terms, or principal motive of the object of a  contract

Apparently Ms. Ann thinks Francis signed a contract to be Pope.

Here is a copy and paste from Novus Ordo Watch which illustrates Ms Ann's error on substantial error:

 Error prevents a valid resignation from office only if the error is the substantial reason for the resignation, such that the Pope in question would not have resigned if he did not hold this error. Barnhardt would have seen as much if she had simply consulted an authoritative commentary on the Novus Ordo Code of Canon Law, which explains: “Substantial error is a mistaken judgment that is not of minor importance and is truly a cause of the consequent resignation. This would be the case in which the officeholder judged that he or she had caused serious injury to someone when this was not objectively correct” (James A. Coriden et al., eds., The Code of Canon Law: A Text and Commentary [New York, NY: Paulist Press, 1985] p. 109; underlining added).

In other words, for Barnhardt’s argument to have any merit even in theory, she would have to prove — not merely suspect but prove — that Benedict XVI abdicated his putative pontificate because he believes in a bifurcated Papacy. But of course this is sheer nonsense and has never been asserted by anyone, least of all by Ratzinger himself.

The official reason given for the resignation was an inability or, at any rate, an unwillingness to continue to exercise the office. In his declaration of Feb. 11, 2013, Benedict spoke of the “strength of mind and body” he believed he no longer had “to adequately fulfill the ministry entrusted to me”. One may speculate that the true reason was a different one — whether fear of a real or imagined evil, the desire to cause great confusion among Novus Ordos, the intent to enable Jorge Bergoglio to succeed him, succumbing to undue pressue by secret powers, etc. — but it was most certainly not his belief that the Papacy can be abdicated in a partial way.

If one wanted to argue invalidity of resignation due to substantial error that actually caused the resignation, one would have to show that Benedict was mistaken regarding his “strength of mind and body”, that he was in error about his “incapacity to adequately fulfill the ministry entrusted to me.” That would constitute substantial error that was causative of the resignation.

However, we will humor Miss Barnhardt and assume for the moment that Ratzinger was incapable of resigning from the Papacy because he was in substantial error about what the Papacy is. If that were so, then, by the same token, Ratzinger could never have validly accepted the Papacy either, back in 2005; for if one cannot validly resign an office one does not know or believe in, neither can one validly accept it in the first place.

The reason for this is that any juridical act is rendered invalid by substantial error, not just a resignation. Hence Canon 126 of the Novus Ordo Code says: “An act placed out of ignorance or out of error concerning something which constitutes its substance or which amounts to a condition sine qua non is invalid.” (The corresponding canon in the Catholic Code is 104.) What’s good for the goose is good for the gander here — and the same Novus Ordo canon law commentary we used earlier backs this up: “Ignorance or error about the essential elements of a juridic act, such as what marriage is or which rights are being transferred by a contract, of its nature invalidates the act — which must always be an informed action” (Coriden et al., The Code of Canon Law: A Text and Commentary, p. 90).

Therefore, if Barnhardt wishes to argue that Benedict’s act of abdication was invalid because he was in substantial error about what the Papacy is, then she must likewise admit that his acceptance of the office to which he had putatively been elected seven years before was likewise invalid. Therefore, this is a pyrrhic victory for Barnhardt at best: Even if she wins, she loses.

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Her whole effort fails not only here but also in the way she first accepted Francis as Pope but one can see her becoming ever more irked over time about Pope Francis and his behavior and statements and so she only later invented a reason for her to try and ditch him as her Pope.


Of course, Ms. Ann would object to hearing someone saying to her - Ann, Francis is still your Pope - but she has no problem telling Benedict XVI - You are still Pope.


Sauce, Goose, Gander, Lady


That is, had Francis acted in a way she personally approved of she would never have been forced to search to find what she personally considered a valid reason to say he is an Anti-Pope which means she would have been perfectly fine with what she now say is a Bifurcated Papacy.


It's all about her feelings about Francis and ABS will illustrate how that is so by some copy + pastes from her blog.

On Francis  (March 2013)

Let me start with a positive comment. Remember, this is the best I could come up with:


If we had gotten the pope we DESERVE, we would now have Pope Snoop Dogg.


And thus ends the positivity…


Bishop of Rome, which is true, but in being the Bishop of Rome the pope is the head of the Universal Church, not just the city of Rome….Benedict thought that between the “Natural Solution” (the passage of time yielding the death or retirement of the bad guys) and the appointments he was able to make over the last eight years that he had set up the College of Cardinals to elect a successor that was very much in the Ratzingerian camp. Benedict was wrong. Not only did they not elect a Ratzingerian, they elected the anti-Ratzinger. In the 2005 conclave Francis came in second to Ratzinger, which is to say that Francis was the “opposition”



People, no matter who is elected pope, no matter what happens, none of this is going to be resolved in any way, shape, manner or form unless and

This isn’t going to end well in an earthly sense. There exists no cardinal who can fix this as pope… 


Here’s the next Pope.

Angelo Bagnasco. Pope Leo XIV…


On the same day the Vicar of Jesus Christ declined to reverence the Consecrated Host in any way at his inaugural Mass…


From 2011, Pope Francis, then Cardinal Bergoglio,…


Here is the full video of Pope Francis’ first Mass in the Sistine Chapel.

.

The Pope DID NOT GENUFLECT after either consecration…never occurred to me that my desire to do penance in reparation to Our Lord for the sacrileges of the world would include the consecration rubrics of THE POPE.


(On to May 2013Unpleasant but Necessary Piece on Pope Francis 1


In the continued spirit of fulfilling my apparent vocation of being the person who faces and then clearly explains the unpleasantries of life, let’s have a little talk about Pope Francis.


Unpleasant but Necessary Piece on Pope Francis 2


Does this all mean that everything Pope Francis says is wrong? Of course not! But, it does mean that we should expect more of these types of incidents, and be able to parse them accordingly. Let’s take off the rose-colored glasses and face facts. He isn’t a Ratzinger and never will be. Not even close. Thus, these sermonettes must not be assigned the kind of gravity that even the most casual of Ratzinger’s remarks merited.


Onto June 2013 Yeah, it is pretty sad that the Pope has to be rhetorically frontrun, but, as I have been saying 


Pope Francis, Man-Years and Punishment

We need to cover a concept relating to Pope Francis and economics. Pope Francis stuck his papal foot in his papal mouth YET again last week when he basically mocked people who had sent him what is referred to as a “spiritual bouquet”….God is angry. Pope Francis is indeed the Pope of our Punishment.


On to July 2013


On Francis the Chastisement 1 of 2

Now, on to the Pope. It is a sad state when one wakes up every day filled with dread as to what horrific thing the Pope is going to say today


Pope Francis is the Vicar of Christ and is a chastisement….


On to August  2013   We have a pope who in his heart rejects the papacy itself…Yes, some foolish people are probably going to apostasize over Francis (Ah, a prophecy)


On to October 2013 


Pope Francis’ statement even MILDLY conform to, er, CATHOLICISM, then the problem is his, and it isn’t a problem of being “too smart”.  It is exactly the opposite.  Pope Francis is a theological and rhetorical idiot.


Hey!  So let’s take these Fruits of Francis and make a smoothie…


On to November 2013 (Remember Francis was elected in March 2013)


Unpacking the Latest Hot Mess from Pope Francis


She goes on to repeatedly call him Pope Francis


ABS tired of reading her Blog but note that for 8 months - EIGHT MONTHS - she not only accepted Francis as Pope but repeatedly called him Pope.


It was only after he had personally irked her past her ability to tolerate him that she began - (Not sure what date) searching for some Canonical reason to reject him.


Ms. Ann is a convert who has never studied Canon Law, never took a degree in Canon Law, never professionally applied Canon Law to any situation but this is the woman a certain type of man lets her lead them around by their nose.


That, dear reader, is a symptom of diabolical disorientation.


The former Pope considers him Pope.


Every single Cardinal alive who participated in the Conclave that elected Francis considers him Pope.


Every single member of the Episcopacy considers him Pope.


Every single Priest considers him Pope.


Every single Religious considers him Pope.


There are roughly 1.2 Billion Catholics and the number of nominal Catholics who agree with Ms. Ann that it is Benedict XVI who is still Pope is so small as to be invisible.


So why is she and The D.O.A. (Disciples of Ann) so insistent she is right and The entire Catholic Church is wrong?


It is the failure of her prophecy which has resulted in an increased fervor she is right and The entire Catholic Church is wrong.


Conditions for increased fervour after disconfirmation
ConditionEffect
"1. A belief must be held with deep conviction and it must have some relevance to action, that is, to what the believer does or how he or she behaves."Makes the belief resistant to change.
"2. The person holding the belief must have committed himself to it; that is, for the sake of his belief, he must have taken some important action that is difficult to undo. In general, the more important such actions are, and the more difficult they are to undo, the greater is the individual's commitment to the belief."Makes the belief resistant to change.
"3. The belief must be sufficiently specific and sufficiently concerned with the real world so that events may unequivocally refute the belief."Exposes believers to the possibility of their belief being disproved.
"4. Such undeniable disconfirmatory evidence must occur and must be recognized by the individual holding the belief."Exerts pressure on believers to abandon their belief.
"5. The individual believer must have social support."While an individual might be unable to resist the pressure to abandon their belief in the face of disconfirming facts, a group might be able to support each other to maintain the belief.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/When_Prophecy_Fails


She has dug so deep and so hard that she and The D.O.A. could only rise out of that hole by climbing the ladder of humility by admitting Ms. Ann is wrong.

Will she do that; will they do that?

ABS doubts that will happen but he prays it does.