Saint Antoninus, died 1459 A.D., cited in Actes de Vatican I. V. Frond pub. >
"In the case in which the Pope would become a heretic, he would find himself, by that fact alone and without any other sentence, separated from the Church. A head separated from a body cannot, as long as it remains separated, be head of the same body from which it was cut off. A Pope who would be separated from the Church by heresy, therefore, would by that very fact itself cease to be head of the Church."
 
Note: Saint Antoninus defending the Automatic Excommunication Dogma (listed on Section 13.2 of this site) and applies this Dogma to the Papacy.

Note 1: The "Gates of Hell" are defined as attempting to prevail against the Church ... not the Office of the Papacy.

Note 2: The Holy Spirit has defined that the Pope is in the Apostolic Primacy (the head of the Church) ... so that there will be "unity of Faith". The unity of the Faith is the Sources of Dogma of the Pope in union with the Bishops of the world.

Note 3: Defining the Apostolic Primacy (as the Bishop of Rome among the other Bishops) is a safeguard against a Bishop or Bishops claiming to define a tenet of the Faith ... and so maintains unity of Faith.

Note 4: Part of the attacks of the "Gates of Hell" against the Church ... are attacks directed against the Papacy as this Source of Dogma states.

Venerable Robert Bellarmine, Cardinal, De Romano Pontifice, II, 30 >
"A Pope who is a manifest heretic automatically (per se) ceases to be Pope and head, just as he ceases automatically to be a Christian and a member of the Church."
 
Note: The heresy does not have to be manifest to cause you're excommunication, it can be privately held heresy. Venerable Bellarmine defending the Automatic Excommunication Dogma (listed on Section 13.2 of this site) and applies this Dogma to the Papacy.

Note 1: Dogmatic definition that the "Gates of Hell" will not prevail over ... those parts of the Catholic Faith (the Dogma) which are addressed in the Dogmatic Nicene Creed.

Note 2: The "Gates of Hell" defined as an attack against Faith ... not about the possible eventuality of the Pope falling into heresy.

Note 3: Section 5.4 describes why the Catholic Creeds are not the full definition of the Catholic Faith. They full definition of the Faith is the Sources of Dogma of the Pope in union with the Bishops of the world.

Saint Alphonsus Maria Liguori, Doctor of the Church, died 1787 A.D. >
"If, however, God were to permit a Pope to become a notorious and contumacious heretic, he would by such a fact cease to be Pope, and the Apostolic chair would be vacant."
 
Note: The heresy does not have to be notorious and contumacious to cause you're excommunication, it can be privately held heresy. Saint Alphonsus defending the Automatic Excommunication Dogma (listed on Section 13.2 of this site) and applies this Dogma to the Papacy.

Note 1: The "whole Church" defined as standing firm against the "Gates of Hell" ... not the Papacy standing firm against the "Gates of Hell".

Note 2: Ascribing to the Papacy in times like these when the Office is vacant ... is to submit to the Catholic Dogma defined by the Pope in union with the Bishops of the world, Dogma which cannot change once established.

Note 3: Rejecting prior defined Catholic Sources of Dogma ... as the vatican-2 heretic cult has been doing for almost 50 years inside our formerly Catholic properties ... separates you from the foundation of the Apostolic Primacy (the Pope).

Archbishop Purcell, Vatican Council of 1870, in an address he presented >
"The question was also raised by a Cardinal, 'What is to be done with the Pope if he becomes a heretic?' From the moment he becomes a heretic he is not the head or even a member of the Church. The Church would not be, for a moment, obliged to listen to him when he begins to teach a doctrine the Church knows to be a false doctrine, and he would cease to be Pope, being deposed by God Himself."

Saint Francis De Sales, Doctor of the Church, The Catholic Controversy, pp. 305-306 >
"Now when he (the Pope) is explicitly a heretic, he falls ipso facto from his dignity and out of the Church ..."    (Ipso facto -> By the fact itself)
 
Note: Bishops Purcell and Francis de Sales defending the Automatic Excommunication Dogma (listed on Section 13.2 of this site) and apply this Dogma to the Papacy.

Note: Pope Leo IX ... defending the above Dogma, that the "Gates of Hell" scriptures is about ... "the disputations of heretics" ... not about the Papacy possibly falling vacant by heresy.

Note: Saint Thomas ... defending the above Dogma, that the "Gates of Hell" scriptures is about ... "the dread folly of heretics" ... not about the Papacy possibly falling vacant by heresy.

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Now that we have seen the Dogmatic definitions that the phrase "Gates of Hell" means attacks of heresy against the Catholic Faith ... let us quickly review the scripture itself, to determine accurately what it says:

Catholic writing of Saint Matthew 16:18 >
"And I say to thee: That thou art Peter; and upon this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it."

What is the last word of this scripture - "it" - referring to in Matthew 16:18 ?

The word  "it"  is referring to the Catholic Church ... it is not referring to the Office of the Papacy, to Saint Peter, or to his successors in the Office of the Papacy.

To say that the word  "it"  refers to the Office of the Papacy is a complete grammatical mis-reading of this scripture.

If this scripture was referring to Saint Peter (or his successors) the scripture would read ... "and the gates of Hell shall not prevail against you".

This is an incredibly common misconception, in large measure because Christ was talking to Saint Peter when He made this statement ... about the Church.

So that ... if the Office of the Papacy falls vacant by heresy, then one cannot say that Matthew 16:18 is false because Matthew 16:18 is talking about the Church. This must be the case because if the Bishop of Rome falls into heresy it, of course, does not mean ... that the gates of Hell have prevailed against the Church since the Church consists of all those who are baptized in water and believe the Catholic Sources of Dogma.

The fact that the Bishop of Rome may fall into heresy does not mean that the Catholic Church has been run off the face of the earth by the gates of Hell ... just because one person falls into heresy ... this would clearly be a preposterous conclusion.

The (still existing) Office to the Papacy fell vacant when anti-Christs usurped this office in 1914 at the death of Pope Pius X. See Sections 20, 20.1, and 20.2 for the heresies of anti-Popes "Benedict XV", "Pius XI", and "Pius XII". Following the fact that the Chair of Peter fell empty in 1914 is the fact that the Catholic Church lost its buildings to the vatican-2 jew-heretic cult in 1965 at the close of the "vatican-2 council" (see Sections 12 and 13 and subsections).

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Deception 1:  The vatican-2-ists think that the group leader of the vatican-2 heretic cult (that was founded in 1965) ... is the Catholic Pope when the vatican-2 cult group leader is just the leader of one of the many thousands of heretic groups in the world.

Deception 2:  Only after being in Deception 1 above ... then the vatican-2-ists wrongly equate the Office of the Papacy falling vacant (remember, they think their cult has the Papacy) ... with the gates of Hell prevailing against the Catholic Church. The Catholic Church cannot be prevailed against ... it can only increase and decrease in numbers (and gain or lose buildings) depending on how many people are baptized in water and believe the Catholic Sources of Dogma.

The vatican-2-ists accept outrageous heretics like Joseph Ratzinger (a.k.a. "Benedict XVI") as Catholic bishops in large part to cover for their own heresy against the Catholic Dogma. They attempt to employ the heretical vatican-2 cult as a "cover story" (an excuse) for the fact that they themselves are heretics. The "I’m innocent" plea ... I was just believing what I was told by the heretic vatican-2 group leaders (who are dressed like Catholic priests) ... will not work to save them from Hell. The reason: Their physical participation in the vatican-2 heresy has caused their automatic excommunication from the Catholic Church (outside of which none are saved).

An integral part of this process of self-deception is the mis-use of the Catholic writing of Matthew 16:18, that the gates of Hell will not prevail against the Catholic Church ... which the vatican-2-ists are not even in ... as they falsely "interpret" the "Gates of Hell" scripture to be about the Papacy.

They think that this excuse (making believe that the vatican-2 cult is the Catholic Church) will be the loophole that will keep them from Hell (it won't) ... as they oppose the Catholic Sources of Dogma in their souls and as they physically participate in a non-Catholic cult. This is a 100% faulty assessment as the vatican-2-ists continue in their break with the spiritual realities (the Catholic Dogma).

Vatican-2-ists ... if you are talking to your automatically excommunicated vatican-2 group leader (who is dressed like a Catholic priest) about the problems inside what used to be our Catholic buildings ... he may reply: "But the gates of Hell will not prevail against the Church". By these very words he is working to secure your eternal damnation as a physical participant in the non-Catholic vatican-2 heretic cult, because participation in heresy causes your automatic excommunication from Christianity (the Catholic Church, which (again) has no buildings at this time).

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1.  The Divinely established Office of the Papacy cannot be destroyed, it is vacant and has been since 1914. The Sources of Dogma of the Pope in union with the bishops of the world are all fully operative. See Section 13.6, Sub-part C regarding the fact that Catholic jurisdiction began to disappear across the world in 1914.

2.  Re-instituting the Catholic Papacy and priesthood is not possible since Divine public revelation ended in 99 A.D. with the death of Saint John. The Dogma states that when Christ returns it will be only for the judgement ... not for re-instituting the priesthood.

3.  Vatican-2-ists, we want to provide you with this clear warning ... hiding behind your heretical, non-Catholic "interpretation" of the Catholic writing of Saint Matthew 16:18 ... is not saving your immortal soul from Hell.

4.  The Catholic remedy ... if you are physically participating in the vatican-2 heretic cult (or have in the past), or if you have fallen into heresy against any Catholic Dogma ... is to make a Formal Abjuration of heresy to re-enter the Catholic Church. There are two Abjurations on Section 19.1 of this site, the top one is for leaving the vatican-2 heresy and entering the Catholic Church. Please make the Abjuration in the context of the steps on Section 2.1 of the site.

5.  After re-entering the Catholic Church you must make a General Confession of your sins ... since there is no forgiveness of sins outside of the Catholic Church in any heretic cult ("vatican-2", "lutheran", "methodist", "evengelical", etc.). None of your "confessions" in the vatican-2 cult brought absolution of sins. Please see the Catholic Dogma on Section 10.2 which addresses how to return to a state of grace when confession is not available (which has happened in a great many places and times since the founding of the Catholic Church in 33 A.D.).

Pope Boniface VIII, Unam Sanctam, 18 Nov 1302 -- Ex-Cathedra Dogma >
"With Faith urging us we are forced to believe and to hold the one, holy, Catholic Church and that, apostolic, and we firmly believe and simply confess this Church outside of which there is no salvation nor remission of sin."

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