On “cultivating an ecclesiology in which fidelity to Tradition becomes a justification for habitual resistance to the living authority of the Church.”

“St John Henry Newman understood something that seems increasingly forgotten in certain traditionalist circles: fidelity to the Church cannot be separated from communion with the successor of Peter. This does not mean that every papal judgement is correct, that every disciplinary decision is wise, or that Catholics must abandon their reason and conscience. Newman himself was far too sophisticated a theologian to believe any such thing. But there is a profound difference between questioning a pope's prudential decisions and cultivating an ecclesiology in which fidelity to Tradition becomes a justification for habitual resistance to the living authority of the Church. The papacy is not an optional feature of Catholicism, to be accepted only when its occupant meets our expectations.

“Newman reminds us that we do not remain Catholic because we trust the personal judgement of every pope. We remain Catholic because we trust Christ, who established His Church upon Peter and promised that the gates of hell would not prevail against her. The test of our fidelity to the papacy is not how readily we defend a pope with whom we agree, but whether we remain faithful when we disagree.”

- Mark Lambert @sitsio