Infallibility clarifications

Submitted by Suchi Myjak on

Class date: 6/3/18

  1. The qualities of infallibility, authority, and indefectibility are closely intertwined.
    • Authority means __? (Christ gives Church power to act in His name to teach, govern, and sanctify.)
    • Infallibility means __? (When teaching ex cathedra, the Pope is protected from error by the Holy Spirit. A similar protection is true for ecumenical councils under or ratified by the Pope, and even to the bishops throughout the world when they teach in union with the Pope and with each other.)
    • Ex cathedra means __? (“in discharge of the office of pastor [shepherd] and teacher of all Christians, by virture of his supreme Apostolic authority a doctrine regarding faith or morals to be held by the universal church”)
    • Indefectibility means __? (His church will always remain true to Christ & His Revelation.)
  2. Together, these charisms support the Church’s role as God’s reliable instrument to “teach all nations” for all time. Christ gave His Church these gifts so that all men might know the truth.
  3. Whether in an encyclical or other papal document, the following criteria are needed for an infallible declaration of a Pope (similar for a council):
    • He must be teaching in his official role as teacher of all the faithful.
    • He must be defining a doctrine on faith or morals.
    • He must make it clear that he is in fact defining a doctrine contained in the deposit of faith, and binding on all Christians.
    • He must be clear about the status of the proposition: de fide, certain, false, heretical, etc.
    • Example: “by the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ, of the Blessed Apostles Peter and Paul, and by our own authority, we pronounce, declare, and define it to be a divinely revealed dogma: that the Immaculate Mother of God, the ever Virgin Mary, having completed the course of her earthly life, was assumed body and soul into heavenly glory. Hence if anyone, which God forbid, should dare willfully to deny or to call into doubt that which we have defined, let him know that he has fallen away completely from the divine and Catholic Faith.” – Munificentissimus Deus (Apostolic Constitution of Pope Pius XII), 44-45
  4. Other teaching statements within magisterial documents may be infallible due to the constant teaching of the ordinary magisterium, or may not, but are still authoritative. "The Spirit is at work in the Church, and the Spirit is at work guiding the pastors of the Church. So we need to generally accept the teaching authority that God has instituted.
  5. "The different levels of doctrinal authority are analogous to rules in your home – There are some drop-dead absolute prohibitions, some things are so severe, if those happen, the boom can fall. Sometimes things are severe enough you can even have to kick someone out of the house, if you're over 18, like violence or alcohol abuse or drug abuse. But there are other things that are not so serious, like 'thou shalt clean the dishes' or 'thou shalt leave the kitchen in the same state you found it.' Those aren't as serious, but they still have to be followed. You don't want your kids saying, 'I'm just going to avoid getting kicked out of the house.'" (Infallibility and Levels of Church Teaching)
  6. Thus, after the Nicene Creed:

With firm faith, I also believe everything contained in the Word of God, whether written or handed down in Tradition, which the Church, either by a solemn judgment or by the ordinary and universal magisterium, sets forth to be believed as divinely revealed.

I also firmly accept and hold each and everything definitively proposed by the Church regarding teaching on faith and morals.

Moreover, I adhere with religious submission of will and intellect to the teachings which either the Roman pontiff or the College of Bishops enunciate when they exercise their authentic magisterium, even if they do not intend to proclaim these teachings by a definitive act.

~ "Profession of Faith and Oath of Fidelity", CDF, 1989, and added to CIC by Pope St. John Paul II in 1998, via the Motu Proprio "Ad Tuendam Fidem."

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