Papal Infallibility
First of two parts (go to part two)There is much confusion among Protestants and Orthodox, and even among orthodox Catholics, about the conditions for the exercise of papal infallibility, and the various levels of the Catholic Magisterium. This article does not propose any original insights; rather it attempts to set out what the Church holds on these issues and to clear up common misunderstandings.The doctrine on papal infallibility as defined by the First Vatican Council in 1870 may be briefly stated as follows: The pope is infallible when he speaks ex cathedra -- that is, when, as pastor and teacher of all Christians, he defines, in virtue of his supreme apostolic authority, a doctrine concerning faith or morals to be held by the universal Church. Hence, there are four conditions for the exercise of papal infallibility, which we may summarize under the headings of (1) office, or subject of infallibility; (2) mode, or act of speaking infallibly; (3) content, or object of infallibility; and (4) recipient.(1) Office: The Pope must be speaking ex cathedra -- that is, from his position as supreme or universal pastor, not simply as a private theologian, or bishop of the Diocese of Rome, or sovereign of Vatican City State, or archbishop and metropolitan of the Roman Province, or primate of Italy, or patriarch of the West.(2) Mode: He must be defining a doctrine, not merely explaining, commenting, observing, exhorting or discussing, etc. In defining, he conclusively pronounces a doctrine with precision and certainty, enunciating it as a final and definitive judgment of truth, to the exclusion of alternatives, and the elimination of doubt.(3) Content: The doctrine must concern faith or morals. It need not be a revealed doctrine; it may be something already known by human reason -- for example, a point of the natural law such as the evil of murder, theft, etc.(4) Recipient: It must be addressed to all the Church, not merely one segment of her.In a way, (4) can be subsumed into (1), for a pope necessarily addresses all the faithful when he teaches by virtue of his supreme office. Reducing these conditions to the first three only, the Second Vatican Council summarizes the doctrine: "The Roman Pontiff, head of the college of bishops, enjoys this infallibility in virtue of his office, when, as supreme pastor and teacher of all the faithful [1] -- who confirms his brethren in the faith -- he proclaims by a definitive act [2] a doctrine concerning faith or morals [3]" (Lumen Gentium, Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, no 25). Canon 749.1 adopts this very text.In order to express the doctrine in a way that helps prevent misunderstanding, rather than say the pope is infallible (which can sound as if he always is), we should say that the pope can speak infallibly.Strictly speaking, a doctrine is not itself "infallible"; a doctrine is either true or false. Infallibility belongs to persons; by extension, we apply the word "infallible" to the doctrines they enunciate.Popular MisconceptionsThe first condition, as explained above, of papal infallibility is clear enough. The second condition is often misunderstood. People often demand extra conditions of ex cathedra statements, by which they often unconsciously limit the pope's Magisterium and add their own doctrines to the defined doctrine of Vatican I.For instance, do we not hear people say that a special formula is required for a definition? They demand the words, "we declare, pronounce and define" or some such phrase -- which a pope may use, but is not required to use. Nor is it necessary to attach an anathema; nor does the pope have to say -- just as no pope ever has -- that he is speaking infallibly. If, for example, it were required that the pope say that he is speaking infallibly, then this would become condition number five, as it were. In other words, it would not be enough for him to fulfill the four conditions, but he would have to fulfill a fifth condition -- namely, make a statement that he has fulfilled the four conditions.Pope Pius XII, when defining the Assumption, did not say that he was speaking infallibly. Nor has any Pope spoken in such a self-referential way. If he did so, then this would only give rise to the question: Was he speaking infallibly when he declared himself to have spoken infallibly? In other words, such conditions destroy papal infallibility, by setting up a series of endless self-referential questions, a regressus ad infinitum.What Papal Infallibility Is NotInfallibility is distinct from inspiration. The pope's infallible utterances are not inspired. For inspiration it is required that the writer or speaker be moved by God to write or speak, and be so guided by God that he expresses what God wishes to express and nothing more. God is the author of inspired utterances. He is not the author of papal definitions, but He guarantees them against error.Further, a papal definition has but the one meaning intended by the pope. A passage of inspired Scripture, on the other hand, may have, not only its literal meaning, but also a spiritual meaning. Thus, for instance, when Christ addressed His Mother and said, "Behold your son," His words applied literally to St. John by her side, but expressed a spiritual meaning also -- namely, that Mary publicly became the spiritual mother of mankind at that moment.Infallibility does not mean that the pope knows more about the Catholic religion and the Bible than anyone else. Historian Adrian Fortescue wrote: "A pope might be quite ignorant and a very poor theologian. He may make a mistake as private theologian; only God will take care that he does not commit the whole Church to it. Papal infallibility is a negative protection. We are confident that God will not allow a certain thing to happen; that is all. It does not mean that the pope will always give the wisest or best decision, or that what he says will always be well-advised or opportune. He may not speak at all; he may preserve a regrettable silence, just when it would be greatly to the good of the Church if he did speak. But if he does speak, and if he speaks in such a way as to commit the Church, then what he says will not be false" ("The Early Papacy").Papal infallibility does not imply a power to make new revelations -- that is, to disclose divine truths previously unknown. The whole Christian revelation was delivered to the apostles. The pope, in the exercise of infallibility, merely explains it without adding anything to it. The pope has no power to add, change or eliminate any doctrine, but only to guard, expound, explain, defend or define doctrine.The whole deposit of faith is not at the mercy of whoever happens to be in the Chair of Peter, so to speak. Campaigns to convince the Pope to change an infallibly taught Church doctrine of faith or morals betray a fundamental error -- namely, that the truth can be changed by say-so; ironically, it attributes to the pope more power than he has ever claimed. A doctrine of faith or morals is not true because the pope solemnly teaches it; he teaches it because it is true. His teaching of it may be how we come to know of it; but it would be true even if he never said it. Asking the pope to change definitive Church teaching is as futile as asking him to change the law of gravity.At this point, it is worth outlining the limits to the papacy as set up by Christ.Limits to Papal AuthorityFortescue stated: "The pope's authority, in the first place, is limited to matters of religion -- that is, of faith and morals, and such things as canon law, liturgy, marriage cases, ecclesiastical censures and so on, which are part of faith and morals. The pope has no authority from Christ in temporal matters, in questions of politics. He has no authority from Christ to teach mathematics, geography, history. His authority is ecclesiastical authority; it goes no further than that of the Church herself. But even in religious matters the pope is bound, very considerably, by the divine constitution of the Church."There are any number of things that the pope cannot do in religion. He cannot modify, nor touch in any way, one single point of the revelation Christ gave to the Church; his business is only to guard this against attack and false interpretation. We believe that God will so guide him that his decisions of this nature will be nothing more than a defense or unfolding of what Christ revealed.The pope can neither make nor unmake a sacrament, he cannot affect the essence of any sacrament in any way. He cannot touch the Bible; he can neither take away a text from the inspired Scriptures nor add one to them. His business is to believe the revelation of Christ, as all Catholics believe it, and to defend it against heresy. He cannot take away the divine authority of any of his fellow bishops as long as they are Catholic bishops in normal possession of their sees; though he can, as chief authority of the Church on earth, under certain circumstances, try, suspend or depose an unworthy bishop. The pope can, in extraordinary circumstances, rearrange dioceses; he cannot abolish the universal episcopate.The Church of Christ, by her Founder's constitution, is ruled by bishops who are the successors of the apostles, among whom, as among the apostles, one of their number is chief. Each Catholic bishop receives his jurisdiction from God; though he must use it in the union of his fellow bishops, and in canonical obedience to the Bishop of Rome, who is his chief.The pope is not, in the absolute sense, head of the Church; the head of the Church is Jesus Christ our Lord, as the Catechism of the Catholic Church says. The pope is the vicar of that Head, and therefore visible head of the Church on earth, having authority delegate from Christ over the Church on earth only; just as every diocesan bishop has authority delegate from Christ over his diocese only. If the pope is a monarch, he is a very constitutional monarch indeed, bound on all sides by the constitution of the Church, as this has been given her by Christ.Of course, papal infallibility is but one mode of the Church's Magisterium. It needs to be seen alongside the other forms of official teaching, which we will discuss in the next issue of The Catholic Answer.(go to part two)About The AuthorFather Peter Joseph is a priest of the Diocese of Wagga Wagga, Australia, with a licentiate in theology from the Pontifical Urban University and a doctorate in dogmatic theology from the Gregorian University in Rome.Published in the July/August '98 issue of The Catholic AnswerOur Sunday Visitor
200 Noll Plaza
Huntington, Indiana 46750
Phone: (800) 348-2440
Return 
thank you so much for sharing
ReplyDelete