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Infallibility
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Infallibility (Topic Page)
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"The Roman See has never erred, and never will
err, because of Christ's promise." (Pope St. Agatho, 680 A.D.) [Reminder:
This infallibility is limited to applicable dogmatic teachings, and
not to purely pastoral or other decisions or teachings which are not ex
cathedra.]
"All true followers of Christ believe in the
infallibility of the Roman pontiff in the sense defined by the Vatican
Council [I] with the same faith as they believe in the incarnation of
our Lord." (Pope Pius XI)
"Against
an enemy so artful [as the devil] the infallible light of the Church is
very necessary." (Fr. Delaporte)
"Oh
yes; men are made infallible because Jesus is with and in them! In
everything else they are men like ourselves; but the Chair on
which they are throned is supported by the arm of God; it is the
Chair of Truth upon the earth." (Gueranger)
"For men whom the truth had set free were to be
preserved by the truth; nor would the fruits of heavenly doctrines by
which salvation comes to men have long remained had not the Lord Christ
appointed an unfailing teaching authority to train the minds to
faith." (Pope Leo XIII, "Aeterni Patris", 1879)
"The
infallibility promised to the Church resides also in the body of bishops
when that body exercises supreme teaching authority with the successor
of Peter." (Second Vatican Council) [Note: Bishops do not
individually partake of infallibility. Collectively, bishops may enjoy infallibility
of teaching only in certain instances, and only when exercised in
union with the Pope.]
"Can. 1326 Bishops also, although individually
and even gathered in particular Councils they do not partake of
infallibility in teaching, nevertheless, for those faithful committed to
their care under the authority of the Roman Pontiff, they are truly
doctors and teachers." (1917 Code of Canon Law)
"The
apostolic college is to be exposed to the fury of hell; but Peter
alone is to confirm his brethren in the faith. His teaching shall
ever be conformable to divine truth; it shall ever be infallible:
Jesus has prayed that it may be so. Such a prayer is all-powerful;
and thereby, the Church, ever docile to the voice of Peter, shall
for ever maintain the doctrine of Christ." (Gueranger)
"Certainly this teaching authority of the Church,
not by any merely human effort but under the protection of the Spirit of
Truth, and therefore absolutely without error, carries out the
commission entrusted to it, that of preserving the revealed truths pure
and entire throughout every age, in such a way that it presents them
undefiled, adding nothing to them and taking nothing away from
them." (Pope Pius XII, "Munificentissimus Deus", 1950)
"This is the infallibility which the Roman
Pontiff, the head of the college of bishops, enjoys in virtue of his
office, when, as the supreme shepherd and teacher of all the faithful
who confirm his brethren in his faith, he proclaims by a definitive act
some doctrine of faith or morals. Therefore his definitions, of
themselves, and not from the consent of the Church, are justly styled
irreformable, for they are pronounced with the assistance of the Holy
Spirit, an assistance promised to him in Blessed Peter." (Second
Vatican Council) "Can.
1323 All those truths must be believed with
divine and Catholic faith which are contained in the written word of God
or in tradition and which the Church proposes for acceptance as revealed
by God, either by solemn definition or through her ordinary and
universal teaching. It is the responsibility of an oecumenical council
or the Roman pontiff speaking ex cathedra to pronounce a solemn
definition of the faith. No doctrine is to be considered as dogmatically
defined unless this is evidently proved." (1917 Code of Canon Law) [Note:
Collectively, bishops (e.g. in a council) may enjoy infallibility
of teaching only in certain instances, and only when exercised in
union with the Pope.]
"Furthermore, [St.] Augustine emphatically
asserted that this unity of the universal Church and her absolute
inerrancy as a teacher, is derived not only from her invisible Head,
Christ Jesus, who from Heaven 'rules His body' and speaks by the lips of
His teaching Church, but also for her visible head on earth, the Roman
Pontiff, to whom the chair of Peter belongs by the lawful right of
succession. For this line of Peter's successors 'is that rock against
which the haughty gates of hell do not prevail'. By incontestable right
we 'are kept within the bosom of the Church by a succession of priests
from the chair of Peter the Apostle, to whom our Lord after His
resurrection gave the charge of feeding His sheep, down to the
episcopate of today'." (Pope Pius XI, "Ad Salutem",
1930)
"God Himself has set up a living authority to
establish and teach the true and legitimate meaning of His heavenly
revelation. This authority judges infallibly all disputes which concern
matters of faith and morals, lest the faithful be swirled around by
every wind of doctrine which springs from the evilness of men in
encompassing error. And this living infallible authority is active only
in that Church which was built by Christ the Lord upon Peter, the head
of the entire Church, leader and shepherd, whose faith He promised would
never fail. This Church has had an unbroken line of succession from
Peter himself; these legitimate pontiffs are the heirs and defenders of
the same teaching, rank, office and power. And the Church is where Peter
is, and Peter speaks in the Roman Pontiff, living at all times in his
successors and making judgment, providing the truth of the faith to
those who seek it." (Pope Pius IX, "Qui Pluribus", 1846)
"Can. 749 §1 By virtue of his office, the
Supreme Pontiff possesses infallibility in teaching when as the supreme
pastor and teacher of all the Christian faithful, who strengthens his
brethren in the faith, he proclaims by definitive act that a doctrine of
faith or morals is to be held. §2 The college of bishops also possesses
infallibility in its teaching when the bishops gathered together in an
ecumenical council exercise the magisterium as teachers and judges of
faith and morals who declare for the universal Church that a doctrine of
faith or morals is to be held definitively; or when dispersed throughout
the world but preserving the bond of communion among themselves and with
the successor of Peter and teaching authentically together with the
Roman Pontiff matters of faith or morals, they agree that a particular
proposition is to be held definitively. §3 No doctrine is understood as
defined infallibly unless this is manifestly demonstrated." (1983
Code of Canon Law) [Note: Bishops do not individually partake
of infallibility. Collectively, bishops may enjoy infallibility of
teaching only in certain instances, and only when exercised in
union with the Pope.] "O
precious and necessary gift of Infallibility in the Church! Gift
without which the mission of the Son of God would have been a
failure! Gift whereby faith, that essential element of man's
salvation, is preserved upon the earth! Yes, we have the promise;
and the effects of this promise are evident even to them that are
not of the Church. Where is there an unprejudiced man, who would
not recognize in the hand of God in the perpetuity of the Catholic
Symbol of Faith, whereas everything else on earth is for ever
changing? Can we attribute to natural causes such a result as this
- that a society, whose link is unity of belief, should live
through so many ages, and yet lose nothing of the truth it
possessed at its commencement, nor imbibe anything of the
falseness of the world around it; that it should have been
attacked by thousands of sects, and yet have triumphed over them
all, survived them all, and be as pure in the faith now at this
present day, as it was on the day when first formed by its divine
Founder? Is it not an unheard-of prodigy, that hundreds of
millions of men, differing from each other in country, character,
and customs, yea, and frequently enemies to each other, should be
united in one like submission to the same authority, which, with a
single word, governs their reason in matters of faith?"
(Gueranger)
"But since in this very age, in which the
salutary efficacy of the apostolic duty is especially required, not a
few are found who disparage its authority, We deem it most necessary to
assert solemnly the prerogative which the Only-begotten Son of God
deigned to enjoin with the highest pastoral office. And so We, adhering
faithfully to the tradition received from the beginning of the Christian
faith, to the glory of God, our Savior, the elevation of the Catholic
religion and the salvation of Christian peoples, with the approbation of
the sacred Council, teach and explain that the dogma has been divinely
revealed: that the Roman Pontiff, when he speaks ex cathedra, that is,
when carrying out the office of pastor and teacher of all Christians,
by virtue of his supreme apostolic authority he defines a doctrine
regarding faith or morals to be held by the universal Church, through the divine
assistance promised him in blessed Peter, possesses that infallibility
with which the divine Redeemer willed that His Church be endowed for
defining doctrine regarding faith and morals; and so such definitions of the
Roman Pontiff of themselves, and not from the consensus of the Church,
are irreformable. But if anyone presumes to contradict this definition of
Ours, which may God forbid: let him be anathema." (Vatican Council
I, 1870 A.D.) Also
See: Papal
Infallibility (Vatican View Section) | Preservation
of Truth / Unity | Necessity
of a Teaching Authority |
Popes Are Infallible, Not Impeccable |
Some Limits of Infallibility | Necessity
of Union With the Roman Pontiff | Obedience
/ Disobedience / Assent | Papal
Primacy / Supremacy |
Papal Supremacy / Councils | Vatican
Facts
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