Did Robert Bellarmine teach that a heretical pope can be deposed?
A viewer asks whether Robert Bellarmine taught that a pope could be a heretic and ipso facto be deposed.
Answer
When Bellarmine treated the subject at large, he did believe that a pope who became a heretic could be deposed, though some say he was not committed to that position. But when they were discussing this in Bellarmine's time, there were about five different opinions, from Bellarmine, Suarez, and others, as to what you do when you have a pope who looks like a heretic. The very fact that they are all discussing it, with diverse opinions, means the church has not decided this; no pope has ever come along and said, here is what you do when you have a heretical pope. I saw someone say that if all the cardinals get together and denounce the pope, then he is no longer pope, but it does not work that way, because then potentially the church could fall and not rise again, a flaw in the system. According to canon law it has always been the case that nobody judges the pope. So all you have are opinions, and you will have that until Jesus comes back; this is one of those situations where you are between a rock and a hard place, and God is in control.