A Response on Apostolicity and the Catholic Church
The premise that the Church's apostolic succession is somehow "incomplete" and in need of reconciliation with other bodies is a misunderstanding of fundamental Catholic doctrine. Apostolicity is not merely a historical or legal chain of hands; it is one of the four essential "notes" of the Church—marks that identify the one true Church founded by Christ.
The Catholic Church is One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic. These four marks are inseparable and cannot be separated or fragmented among different groups.
One: There is only one institutional Catholic Church on earth, under the authority of the Pope, the Successor of Christ on earth.
Holy: The Church is Holy because Her Founder, Jesus Christ is Holy, and because She is the means by which souls are sanctified, and made saints.
Catholic: The Church is universal meaning for all people of all nations, and She is to be found in every nation on earth, She is supra-national, above all regions, borders, countries, and nationalities.
Apostolic: The Church's mission, faith, worship in the TLM, and discipline originate with and directly from Jesus Christ and the Apostles themselves, and have been handed down continuously without substantial alteration through the ages to today.
This continuity is guaranteed by Christ Himself, who promised that "the gates of hell shall not prevail" against His Church (St. Mt 16:18). This promise, known as the indefectibility of the Church, means that the Church's essential characteristics, including her Apostolicity, can never fail, or God is not God. thanks It is logically impossible for the majority of the world's bishops to have lost their valid consecrations, as this would contradict Christ's divine guarantee.
The idea that the Catholic Church's apostolic succession is invalid because it only traces back to Cardinal Scipione Rebiba is a non sequitur. Rebiba and papal succession are unrelated.
Papal succession is a distinct line of authority from St. Peter to the current Pope. Apostolic succession, meanwhile, is the unbroken line of bishops going back to the Apostles.
The two are intertwined, but a single individual's documentation does not invalidate the entire episcopal line. I may have lost my British passport but not my UK citizenship. Analogy: I am still a UK citizen by birthright with or without passport.
According to Canon Law, every bishop is consecrated by at least three other bishops, providing a fail-safe against a single invalid consecration. Furthermore, a bishop's appointment requires a papal mandate. Since Cardinal Rebiba was appointed by a Pope and consecrated in accordance with Canon Law, his consecration was undoubtedly valid. To suggest otherwise is to believe that the Popes themselves would knowingly appoint an invalid bishop, which is a preposterous claim and would also undermine the indefectibility of the Church.
The Status of the Orthodox and the SSPX and the Catholic Church
The argument that the Orthodox and the SSPX are similar in their relationship to the Catholic Church is fundamentally flawed.
The Orthodox Sect
The Eastern Orthodox 'churches' are in schism because they have rejected, in principle, the divinely established authority of the Roman Pontiff and the universal primacy of the See of Peter. While they have valid bishops and sacraments, they lack formal apostolicity because they are no longer in communion with the successor of St. Peter. They are heretical because they reject key Catholic doctrines, and, therefore, no longer teach the Catholic Faith in its entirety. Their separation from the Catholic Church was, and is a voluntary act that violates the very constitution of the Church that Christ founded. The Greek Orthodox sect was founded by a man, Michael Cerularius, Patriarch of Constantinople, an ex-Catholic bishop, originally appointed by the pope, in 1054 AD, and not by Jesus Christ, True God and True Man, in 0 AD. It is not for the Catholic Church to reconcile with a schismatic sect, but for the Orthodox to return to full communion with the one, true Church.
The Society of St. Pius X (FSSPX)
The situation of the FSSPX is one of canonical irregularity, not schism. The FSSPX has always recognized the authority of the Pope and the indefectibility of the Church. Their canonical status is problematic, but they do not reject papal supremacy or infallibility in principle. Therefore, they are not schismatic. Their episcopal consecrations are considered valid but illicit, meaning they were performed without a papal mandate, but they validly conferred the sacrament. This is a matter of Church discipline and obedience, not of faith or the invalidity of the sacraments.
In summary, the Catholic Church's apostolic succession is inviolable and guaranteed by Christ Himself. The idea that it has been lost or corrupted is a rejection of the Church's indefectibility. The Orthodox are in schism due to their rejection of the papacy, and other key Catholic dogmas, and doctrines, while the FSSPX is in a state of canonical irregularity for disciplinary reasons, and no one has ever accused the FSSPX of heresy. The two situations are not the same, and the solution for the Greek Orthodox is found in a return to acceptance, and submission to the faith of the Council of Florence, renunciation of schism, and heresy, absolution, and then communion with the Roman Pontiff, and the entire Catholic Church under his care as the Vicar of Christ on earth.

No, neither is sin, nor error. Mystery of iniquity.
Riddle back to you: Christ is God, right? Christ is man, right? Yet on the Way of the Cross, He is whipped, bloodied, totally unrecognizable, and then put to death. How can God suffer, and be put to death like that? Yet you--we--still believe that Our Lord is True God and True Man. This is both a mystery of iniquity, and a mystery of faith.
That God allows the NOM--which Daniel prophesied as the "abomination of the desolation in the sanctuary of God", false sacrilegious worship in God's Temple--in the One True Church of Christ, the Roman Catholic Church, is a mystery of the same nature as Christ's Divinity completely obscured by His sullied Humanity. How can God allow this? As a punishment for our sins.
Yet Christ remains Christ, and the Church remains the Church. All the Apostles abandoned Christ at the end. Only Our Blessed Mother, and St. John the Apostle whom Christ loved remained at the foot of the Cross of our Redemption, along with the Good and Bad Thieves...who could not, for compelling reasons, abandon him physically. The Church remember is both Divine, and human, both. Her members are sinners, not canonized saints.
The Church's divine nature is currently obscured by the sinful humanity and sinful actions of the majority of her members. Those with the Catholic Faith see, and know this and do not lose their spiritual peace. We do not believe in the Church because of the action of any one of her members. We believe in the Church because it is the Living Body of Christ, even obscured, of Christ, Son of God. We believe in the Church because it was founded by Christ Himself two thousand years ago. No other 'church' can claim this. Michael Cerularius, ex-Catholic Patriarch of Constantinople, founded the Antiochian Orthodox church as part of the Greek Orthodox heretical schismatic sect....not Jesus Christ, True God and True Man.
The Catholic and Apostolic Church headed by Pope Sylvester I convoked, upon the Emperor Constantine's request, the Council of Nicea in 325 AD. It was a Catholic Council not an orthodox one as orthodox did not yet exist. Fact: All the archbishops at the Council of Nicea wore over their liturgical vestments the Catholic pallium given to them by the pope in Rome which symbolized their union in the Catholic Faith and the Church's belief in the Catholic papacy as instituted by Christ Himself in the Bible, and their submission to his universal authority over their particular Churches and over the Universal Church as a whole. Everyone believed and lived this with the exception of ex-Catholic priest Arius, and his followers who were condemned, along with Arianism, by the Council of Nicea. The Catholic Council of Nicea promulgated the Catholic Nicene Creed. The Catholic Church obviously meant itself when it infallibly taught against Arius: the Catholic Church is One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic with Pope Sylvester at its head, and with its hub, or centre in Rome as chosen by Christ Himself, and all of the successors of St. Peter from that moment. Make sense? It is always dangerous to impose the errors of the modern day upon the historical facts and reality of the past changing it to suit one's own inventions, whims, and fancies. "There will come a time when men will not be able to bear true doctrine that I, Paul, have taught you; these will have itchy ears, and listen to and believe in fables." This applies to you.
When Catholics say: One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic, we mean by Catholic, universal, with its centre in Rome, where St. Peter received the mandate from Christ to head His Church on earth: "what you loose on earth, will be loosed in heaven." Thou art Peter, and upon you, Peter, I found my Christ." This took place in Rome in 67 AD. St. Peter's tomb and relics including his skull are in Rome in St. Peter's Basilica. St. Peter's Successors are to this day to be found in Rome as well. Hence, to say Catholic is to say Roman, and to say Roman is to say Catholic. Roman is implicit to Catholic. Like a turtle is implicit to its shell. This is what your Antiochene Orthodox friends believed up until 1054. They named the pope in their triptych prayers during the Canon of their Masses as required up until 1054, and then they did not. Catholics have always, for two thousand years, named the popes without a break, or exception. Hence, the Roman Catholic Church is the One True Church of Christ, and only She is One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic. No other churches claim to be the Catholic Church which is proof in point.

Yes, see proof below.
It’s not because a group adds the word ‘Catholic’ to their sect name which is not THE “Catholic Church” that somehow it becomes true, and ipso presto they are the “Catholic Church.”
Wishful thinking, usurpation, and misappropriation does not make something a reality. Or…”I’m a unicorn, and suddenly,wow!, I am.” Naught.
There is only one “Catholic Church.”
If you ask an Antiochan Orthodox where the local Catholic parish church is, they will not point to their own church but to the Catholic parish up the street a ways. Try it. You’ll see…
The Apostolic Succession, going back to St. Peter, is displayed for all to see in the form of individual portraits of each pope in St. Paul Outside the Walls Basilica in Rome.
This huge church has one of the most unique things in the whole city. The portraits of the Popes. These portraits, located high up on the side walls of the entire church, represents all the Popes in history. They start with Saint Peter and end with Pope Francis. There are 266 portraits on the walls of all of the Successors of St. Peter, that is to say, all of the popes, without a break, nor interruption, from St. Peter to the last deceased pope, Francis. These portraits are not small, and this gives you the idea of how big St Paul’s Basilica is.

No, not in the Catholic Church.

Yes, now they just have to become Eastern Rite Catholic. One more step…