Well, if the Holy Spirit doesn’t guide the church in something as basic as the selection of the new pope, then how exactly does He protect the church from error or from being destroyed?
How then, does anyone know what the Holy Spirit’s will is for the Church if they can’t hear Him for something simple, like selection of the pope?
And if the selection of the pope is not guided by the Holy Spirit and they ignore the inspiration given by Him, then how can any pope speak ex cathedra?
The claim that the Holy Spirit is protecting the Church falls flat when He can’t even *protect* it from the wrong man being elected pope.
It means that while most RCs see the papacy as essential for preserving the Church, whether a papal election is an infallible act is something RCs can and do disagree on.
"DOCTRINAL COMMENTARY ON THE CONCLUDING FORMULA OF THE PROFESSIO FIDEI" (Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith) states (emp. mine),
The Magisterium of the Church, however, teaches a doctrine to be believed as divinely revealed (first paragraph) or to be held definitively (second paragraph) with an act which is either defining or non-defining. In the case of a defining act, a truth is solemnly defined by an "ex cathedra" pronouncement by the Roman Pontiff or by the action of an ecumenical council.
In the case of a non-defining act, a doctrine is taught infallibly by the ordinary and universal Magisterium of the Bishops dispersed throughout the world who are in communion with the Successor of Peter.
With regard to the nature of the assent owed to the truths set forth by the Church as divinely revealed (those of the first paragraph) or to be held definitively (those of the second paragraph), it is important to emphasize that there is no difference with respect to the full and irrevocable character of the assent which is owed to these teachings.
The difference concerns the supernatural virtue of faith: in the case of truths of the first paragraph, the assent is based directly on faith in the authority of the Word of God (doctrines de fide credenda); in the case of the truths of the second paragraph, the assent is based on faith in the Holy Spirit's assistance to the Magisterium and on the Catholic doctrine of the infallibility of the Magisterium (doctrines de fide tenenda).
With regard to those truths connected to revelation by historical necessity and which are to be held definitively, but are not able to be declared as divinely revealed, the following examples can be given: the legitimacy of the election of the Supreme Pontiff or of the celebration of an ecumenical council, the canonizations of saints (dogmatic facts), the declaration of Pope Leo XIII in the Apostolic Letter Apostolicae Curae on the invalidity of Anglican ordinations. - http://www.ewtn.com/library/CURIA/CDFADTU.HTM
The claim that the Holy Spirit is protecting the Church falls flat when He can’t even *protect* it from the wrong man being elected pope.
May not does not mean cannot, but the problem with the sola papal model of authority, in which one man is alone the supreme authority to which all the church is to look, is that to the degree he goes South then so does much of the flock, while there are left confused when there is doubt over who is the real papa.
But those who look to the Lord and unchanging Scripture have a sure compass and anchor, versus,
"For nearly half a century, the Church was split into two or three obediences that excommunicated one another, so that every Catholic lived under excommunication by one pope or another, and, in the last analysis, no one could say with certainty which of the contenders had right on his side. The Church no longer offered certainty of salvation; she had become questionable in her whole objective form--the true Church, the true pledge of salvation, had to be sought outside the institution.
"It is against this background of a profoundly shaken ecclesial consciousness that we are to understand that Luther, in the conflict between his search for salvation and the tradition of the Church, ultimately came to experience the Church, not as the guarantor, but as the adversary of salvation. (Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, p.196). http://www.whitehorseinn.org/blog/2012/06/13/whos-in-charge-here-the-illusions-of-church-infallibility/)
The drawing of lots is considered Holy Spirit direction ... by those whose souls are not yet born from above. It is even a mistake the Disciples made when choosing to replace Judas. The religion of catholiciism is rife with magic thinking.
You would think they would have an ‘escape clause’ to fire bad Popes.