Shameless Popery #264 Redeemed Zoomer Critiques a Doctor of the Church…It Ends Poorly
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Apr 21, 2026 Brayden Cook, host of The Catechumen and Catholic apologist, joins to dissect Redeemed Zoomer’s critique of St. Francis de Sales. They discuss de Sales’s charitable rhetoric, his success converting Calvinists, arguments about apostolic authority and mission, the claim that Lutherans lacked prior standing, and how the early fathers and creeds shape the debate.
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De Sales Argues Protestantism Is A Novel Movement
- St. Francis de Sales mounted a historically grounded argument that Protestants are a novel movement because they only appear after the apostolic era.
- Joe and Brayden cite de Sales' conversions of Calvinists in Geneva and the Chablais (1594–1599) as evidence his arguments engaged actual Calvinist opponents and succeeded in converting thousands.
Preaching Requires A Sent Authority
- Authority to preach must come from being sent either directly by God or by those already called, forming the basis for apostolic succession.
- Joe traces this through Romans 10, Acts 15, and Hebrews 8 to show early Christian practice required institutional sending, not self-authorization.
The Catch-22 Of Reformers' Authority
- De Sales exposes a catch-22 for Reformers: if the pre-Reformation local church was true it would not send someone out; if it was false it had no authority to send him.
- This undermines claims that Luther or Calvin derived legitimate missionary authority from their Catholic ordination or local churches.
