POPE FRANCIS - A HERETIC? ON THE PUNISHMENT OF HERETICS AND ESPECIALLY OF THE POPE WHO HAS BECOME A HERETIC WILLIAM OF OCKHAM Dial. 6.1-15 CHP. VII

Chapter 7

Student:Ignore this material and bring in other arguments to prove that the emperor is not the normal judge of the pope.

Master: Here is the second main argument to this effect. The emperor is not the normal judge of one who is unfettered by imperial laws, since the laws of a superior constrain the subjects unless they are specifically given immunity by the superior. But the pope is not at all bound by imperial laws (di. 10 c. 1[col. 19] and c. Quoniam)[col. 21]. Therefore the emperor is not the normal judge of the pope. The third argument is this: the emperor is not the normal judge of other clerks of inferior rank; therefore all the more is he not the normal judge of the pope. The deduction is obvious, while the antecedent may be shown by countless holy canons. From which we read thus in [the acts of] the council of Carthage (we have it in 11 q. 1 c. Placuit)[col. 629]: "It was resolved that whoever should petition of the emperor a decision in public lawcourts will be deprived of his particular office." One gathers from these words that the emperor is not the normal judge of clerks, therefore etc. The fourth argument is this: he to whom an appeal from the pope is not permitted is not the normal judge of the pope; but it is not allowed to appeal from the pope to the emperor ( 9 q. 3 c. Ipsi[col. 611] and c. Cuncta[col. 611]), therefore the emperor is not the normal judge of the pope. The fifth argument is this: the emperor is not the judge of one to whom Christ entrusted the rights of the empire. Christ however entrusted the rights of the empire to blessed Peter and to his successors (di. 22 c. 1)[col. 73], therefore the emperor is not the normal judge of the pope.