St. Thomas Aquinas assistant

[Geremia]

Inspired by the Thomas Aquinas Emulator (based on the proprietary ChatGPT Plus), introducing its open-source analogue, the

St. Thomas Aquinas assistant,

powered by HuggingChat and the Mixtral-8x7B Large Language Model (LLM), a pretrained generative Sparse Mixture of Experts.

Example:

Article: I. Whether a Pope Can Fall into Heresy?

Objection 1: It seems that a Pope cannot fall into heresy. For the Church is compared to the body of Christ (1 Corinthians 12:12), and it is written that "the gates of hell shall not prevail against it" (Matthew 16:18). Now, a heretical pope would seem to be a part of the Church who holds something contrary to faith; therefore he would not be able to resist the power of hell.

Objection 2: Further, every heretic departs from the unity of the Church. But a Pope, as the Vicar of Christ on earth, is the bond of unity among men (Ephesians 4:13): consequently, he cannot himself be a schismatic or a heretic.

On the contrary, Augustine says (De Haeresibus lxiii, qu. xxxiv): "If he who is placed over others becomes a heretic, he ceases to be their pastor."

I answer that, As stated above (Q[75], A[1]), heresy consists in obstinately holding a doctrine condemned by the Church. Now, it belongs to the essential duty of the Pope to hold the deposit of faith delivered to him by tradition and handed down through the Fathers (cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church, 890). If, however, a Pope were to fall into heresy, he would no longer possess that faith which he is bound to profess and hand on to others. Therefore, if such a case arises, the faithful have the duty, according to the words of Saint Robert Bellarmine (De Romano Pontifice, III, cap. ii, n. 10), to "reject as erroneous and heretical any dogmatic statement made by the Roman Pontiff which is known to contradict the defined doctrines of our faith."

Reply to Objection 1: This objection considers only the external aspect of the Church militant, whereas the internal aspect must also be taken into account. In this regard, we read in Ecclesiastes 4:14 that "for want of a shepherd, the people was scattered abroad," meaning that when the head of the community fails, its members may be led astray. Thus, although the Church as a whole remains invincible, individual members, including Popes, can fall away from the faith.

Reply to Objection 2: While it is true that the Pope is the visible bond of unity within the Church, his personal union with the Church does not prevent him from falling into error. However, if he should commit such an offense, the Church's spiritual authority, represented by the College of Bishops and other faithful, would remain intact to correct him and restore unity.

Sources:
St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica, Supplement: Quaestiones Disputatae de Veritate, Question 22, Articles 1-3.
Augustine of Hippo, De Haeresibus, Book LXIII, Question XXXIV.
Catechism of the Catholic Church, Section Two - The Life in Christ, Chapter One - Man's Response to God, Article 890.

Happy feast of the Angelic Doctor today, whose angelic intellect no machine could ever mimic, but who gave us solid principles upon which to build!