What is infallibility?

Answer 1

Catholic AnswerInfallibly is the freedom from error that the Pope enjoys when he is teaching the universal Church in the matter of faith and morals. It was defined by the First Vatican Council, and is a very narrow, negative thing. The Pope must be speaking ex cathedra, that is, in his office as universal pastor and teacher of all Christians, he must be speaking on a matter of faith or morals, and he must be defining a doctrine to be held by all. Another Answer

The First Vatican Council in 1870, defined the infallibility of the pope, in Pastor Aeternalis.First of all, chapter 6 says:

9. Therefore, faithfully adhering to the tradition received from the beginning of the christian faith, to the glory of God our savior, for the exaltation of the Catholic religion and for the salvation of the christian people, with the approval of the Sacred Council, we teach and define as a divinely revealed dogmathat when the Roman Pontiff speaks EX CATHEDRA, that is, when, in the exercise of his office as shepherd and teacher of all Christians, in virtue of his supreme apostolic authority, he defines a doctrine concerning faith or morals to be held by the whole Church, he possesses, by the divine assistance promised to him in blessed Peter, that infallibility which the divine Redeemer willed his Church to enjoy in defining doctrine concerning faith or morals. Therefore, such definitions of the Roman Pontiff are of themselves, and not by the consent of the Church, irreformable. [My emphasis in bold]

On this, Bishop Geoffrey Robinson (Confronting Power and Sex in the Catholic Church) asks how a council can infallibly declare the infallibility of the pope unless we assume in advance that the council was itself infallible. In the absence of infallibility on the part of the First Vatican Council, the pronouncement in Pastor Aeternalis is no more than an opinion.

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In chapter 4 of the same document, the council appears to have limited that infallibility, by limiting the pope to jealously guarding and explaining what was handed down through the apostles, and not the ability to disclose a new doctrine by revelation:

6. For the Holy Spirit was promised to the successors of Peter not so that they might, by his revelation, make known some new doctrine, but that, by his assistance, they might religiously guard and faithfully expound the revelation or deposit of faith transmitted by the apostles.

The council may not have intended to have one clause limit the other in this way. The pope's pronouncement on the Assumption of the Virgin Mary was certainly not handed down through the apostles, so even if the pope is indeed infallible on certain matters Robinson believes this clause means that the pope was assuming an infallibility he did not have in this case.

The First Vatican Council could only speak for the Catholic Church and, of couse, Papal infallibility applies only to the Catholic Church. It is not recognised by the other churches, which accept The Bible as the only infallible guide on faith and morals, nor is it true for non-Christian religious beliefs.

In summary:

1. the council taught and declared that the pope is infallible when speaking ex cathedra on faith and morals, but apparently also limited his authority to matters of faith transmitted by the apostles;

2. there is reasonable doubt whether Catholics really ought to hold the pope to be infallible; and

3. there is further doubt as to whether the pope ought to be regarded as infallible when making pronouncements other than to expound teachings transmitted through the apostles, such as on the Assumption of Mary.

4. Papal authority is limited to the teachings of the Catholic Church, within the Catholic Church.