Roma Locuta Est

April 21, 2025 (Steven O’Reilly) – By now, all have likely heard the news that Pope Francis passed away today at 7:35 AM in the morning, Rome time.  May the Lord grant him eternal rest.

Those who have been readers of this blog, Roma Locuta Est, know where we have stood with respect to the pontificate of Pope Francis, and the many controversies that have arisen during the course of it, e.g., the debate over Amoris Laetitia (e.g., Summa Contra the Francis-Apologists), answers to various dubia (e.g., A New Set of Dubia: This time, a different Outcome?; Dubium: ‘Are you a heretic, yes or no?’), the Scalfari interviews (e.g., Why blame Scalfari?), the Abu Dhabi document, capital punishment (e.g., More Papal Confusion: Footnoting Francis throws his predecessors under the bus), etc. 

However, at this moment, it being so soon after the death of Pope Francis, I will refrain from a fresh critique of his pontificate. I would only caution Catholics looking, or hoping for quick corrections from the next pope.  Keep in mind that forty years elapsed, and nine popes reigned between the death of Pope Honorius until Pope St. Leo II’s ‘correction’ of Honorius. So, a great deal of patience may be required.

But, it is time for the nonsense to end

In the immediate aftermath of the death of Pope Francis, I do hope those who have assiduously advanced the claim that Benedict’s resignation was invalid for one reason or another will, finally, give up on this nonsense, once and for all.  With now both Benedict XVI and now Francis gone, there is now no longer a place to hide in this game of make-pretend. 

The choice before the Benepapists is a stark one.  Will they accept the results of the next conclave; and will they accept the next elected pope as valid, even when he affirms Benedict XVI’s resignation was valid?  If they answer “no”, then they will have traded in their Benepapism for a permanent state of ‘neo-sedevacantism.’

The alternative — the true path to take — is the more difficult one.  To answer the prior questions with “yes”, the leading Benepapists will need to summon up a healthy dose of humility to admit their errors. They will all have a lot of crow to eat amongst other things, as well as needing to apologize to those they have publicly attacked and maligned along the way for having the temerity to disagree with the Benepapists.  But most of all, the leading Benepapists will need to publicly admit and retract their errors, as well as apologize to those they led astray with their tendentious arguments.

My sincere hope is that these Benepapist errors will not now lead their followers into a neo-sedevacantism in the wake of the death of Pope Francis, and the next conclave.  I’ve written much against the Benepapists, and hope there will no longer be a need to keep up with this topic — and that it will end up as nothing more than a quirky footnote to these times.

But, for any Catholics out there still clinging for the moment to the Benepapist cause, I offer the following resources.  Along with my book (Valid? The Resignation of Pope Benedict XVI), this blog has published a number of articles defending the validity of the resignation of Benedict against all the arguments raised by the Benepapists, such as the recent Pope Benedict XVI Resigned Freely, Benedict XVI’s Resignation: FAQ, Intellectual Honesty and the End of Benepapism and The Case against those who claim “Benedict is (still) pope”. In addition to these articles, I have also had an article appear on OnePeterFive (see https://onepeterfive.com/whither-benepapism/), and a series of articles on LifeSiteNews (see LifeSiteNews Articles Debunking Benepapism). I have also created some videos on the topic (see https://www.youtube.com/@StevenOReilly777).

Let’s pray the Benepapist nonsense is behind us for good.  Let us also now pray that God will grant us a good and holy pope who will dispel the confusion surrounding doctrine and discipline that has arisen in recent years.

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. He writes for Roma Locuta Est He can be contacted at StevenOReilly@AOL.com. Follow on Twitter: @S_OReilly_USA.