February 17, 2025 (Steven O’Reilly) – During the months of November and December, LifeSiteNews published several articles written by me which addressed various arguments advanced by Dr. Edmund Mazza and Patrick Coffin.
My first article, Why Pope Benedict’s resignation was valid: a response to Dr. Mazza replied, as the title suggests, to various specious claims put forward by Dr. Mazza attempting to prove Benedict’s resignation was invalid. The article provides links and footnotes to my other responses to Mazza’s arguments. I also respond to Dr. Mazza, and other Benepapist claims in my book Valid? The Resignation of Pope Benedict XVI, as well in a video series (see HERE). Other articles responding to Dr. Mazza’s claims, including those found in his book on the topic, may be found here (see The Summa Contra Dr. Mazza).
My second article, Benedict XVI did not fake his resignation: a response to Patrick Coffin replied, as the title suggests, responds to equally specious arguments advanced by Patrick Coffin in favor of Andrea Cionci’s thesis. I respond to Cionci in my book (see link above), as well in various articles, which also include direct exchanges with Cionci (see Summa Contra Andrea Cionci, Plan B, and the Ratzinger Code). For the record, Mr. Coffin did not respond to my article.
Dr. Mazza at this point replied to my article above. I immediately responded to him in my third article titled Here’s what Benedict XVI meant by ‘pope emeritus’: a second reply to Dr. Mazza. For the record, Mazza did not reply to this article.
For my fourth article, I commented on part of Dr. Mazza’s reply to Bishop Athanasius Schneider’s article (see EXCLUSIVE: Bishop Schneider explains why he believes Francis must be the pope). Dr. Mazza attempted to dispute His Excellency’s appeal to the doctrine of Universal and Peaceful Acceptance to defend the validity of Francis’s pontificate. However, Mazza in his rebuttal to Bishop Schneider misrepresented the doctrine of Universal Acceptance. My own article called out Dr. Mazza’s mistakes and misrepresentations with regard to this doctrine, as well as with some of the history. My article can be found here: Anti-popes were never as universally and peacefully accepted as Pope Francis: Steven O’Reilly. For the record, Dr. Mazza has not attempted to respond to this article either.
In my fifth article in this recent series, I replied to the second part of Dr. Mazza’s reply to Bishop Schneider’s article (see EXCLUSIVE: Bishop Schneider explains why he believes Francis must be the pope). In his article, Mazza attempt to suggest “Benedict XVI’s own words prove that his resignation was invalid.” However, my article pointed to recent revelations by or regarding Monsignor Nicola Bux wherein Benedict XVI corresponded with Bux in 2014 regarding his resignation. My article appeals to this correspondence to demonstrate Benedict XVI’s resignation was, in fact, valid (see Benedict XVI’s own words show that he really did resign the papacy). Again, for the record, Dr. Mazza did not respond to this article.
Steven O’Reilly is a graduate of the University of Dallas and the Georgia Institute of Technology. A former intelligence officer, he and his wife, Margaret, live near Atlanta. He has written apologetic articles, and is author of Book I of the Pia Fidelis trilogy, The Two Kingdoms; and of Valid? The Resignation of Pope Benedict XVI. (Follow on twitter at @fidelispia for updates). He asks for your prayers for his intentions. He can be contacted at StevenOReilly@AOL.com or StevenOReilly@ProtonMail.com (or follow on Twitter: @S_OReilly_USA; or Gettr or TruthSocial: @StevenOReilly).
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