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“Vatican II said it was okay to disagree with the Pope.”


Hardly. Read the documents! The Dogmatic Constitution on the Church (Lumen Gentium)no. 25, states that, even though the bishops of the Catholic Church are not individually infallible, they teach infallibly the Church’s doctrines of faith and morals “when, gathered together in an ecumenical council, they are teachers and judges of faith and morals for the universal Church, whose definitions must be adhered to with the submission of faith.”
So—Lumen Gentium, No. 25, says that one such case of the bishops teaching infallibly is when they teach a matter of faith and morals in “an ecumenical council.”  Such as Vatican II. Lumen Gentium No.25 further states that these definitions of the bishops on matters of faith and morals must be held with a “religious assent,”  and, “This religious submission of mind and will must be shown in a special way to the authentic magisterium of the Roman Pontiff, even when he is not speaking ex cathedra …” 

In the Council’s teaching this necessitates assent to the Pope’s non-ex cathedra teaching: “…that is, it must be shown in such a way that his supreme magisterium is acknowledged with reverence, the judgments made by him are sincerely adhered to, according to his manifest mind and will.” How is this discerned? The Council explains it by saying that: “… His mind and will in the matter may be known either from the character of the documents, from his frequent repetition of the same doctrine, or from his manner of speaking.” 

Let’s be clear—Vatican II teaches that one may not dissent from even the non-ex-cathedra or “non-infallible” decisions of the Pope on matters of faith and morals—not even “limited and occasional” dissent, which means that Catholics may not dissent from Paul VI’s teaching on contraception in Humanae Vitae. A Catholic who says that one may dissent from a non-ex cathedra or non-infallible decision of a pope would be implicitly dissenting from Lumen Gentium no. 25 and the Second Vatican Council itself! Read more....

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