7.4. What is wrong with 'Recognize and Resist'? Isn’t it the prudent path during a crisis?

"Recognize and Resist" (R&R) is the belief that one must recognize the post-Vatican II claimants as true popes while resisting their errors, laws, and disciplines.

But the Church teaches:

• A true pope must be obeyed in faith and discipline (Pastor Aeternus, Vatican I).

• The Church is indefectible: she cannot give universal error in faith or morals.

If a "pope" imposes heresy or dangerous liturgical rites on the whole Church, then he cannot be the pope. The R&R position tries to preserve the idea of a pope while denying the consequences of his heresy. This is inconsistent, non-Catholic, and leads to chaos and selective obedience.

For example, many R&R adherents reject “Pope” Francis's teaching in Amoris Laetitia, which permits adulterers to receive Communion, or reject his canonization of John Paul II, yet still insist he is a true pope. This undermines the Catholic understanding of the papacy, which cannot be separated from doctrinal fidelity and universal jurisdiction. Such contradictions reveal that R&R is not a prudent path—it is a theological compromise that ultimately denies both papal infallibility and the Church's indefectibility.