How does the protection by the HS work?

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LaSalle

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The Holy Spirit prevents the Pope from teaching error. Correct?

How does He do this without taking away the Pope’s free will from making an erroneous doctrine?
 
LaSalle said:
The Holy Spirit prevents the Pope from teaching error. Correct?

How does He do this without taking away the Pope’s free will from making an erroneous doctrine?
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That’s an interesting question on the same order as, can God make a rock so big that he can’t move it? In short, it is a paradox that the Pope, like any other person, has free will but because of his position as Christ’s representative, he cannot make an error when pronouncing official, Church doctrine.

If he tried to deliberately veer into error would God make him mute? Strike him dead? Luckily, it doesn’t seem that any Popes have chosen to experiment.

Paul
 
The same way the Holy Spirit ensured that the Prophets, Apostles, etc. when they proclaimed the truth without error. Even the apostates Balaam and Caiphas prophesied truly by the power of God.
 
Genesis315 said:
The same way the Holy Spirit ensured that the Prophets, Apostles, etc. when they proclaimed the truth without error. Even the apostates Balaam and Caiphas prophesied truly by the power of God.
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Good one. I guess somehow God is able to do it without infringing on their free will. Also, I do think that if a Pope aimed to teach error, striking them down mute, blind or even dead is always a possibility.
 
First, to answer the original question:

The matter of infallible doctrinal teaching is one of knowledge, not free will. The pope is given the ability to, without error, interpret the scriptures and the sacred traditions with perfect clarity. The free will issue, then, comes in only on speaking: does God allow the pope the free will to lie? The answer is yes, the pope COULD attempt to lie, and has the free choice to do so. However… (i’m going to drop a quote from another poster in here)
T700 said:
If he tried to deliberately veer into error would God make him mute? Strike him dead? Luckily, it doesn’t seem that any Popes have chosen to experiment.
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Actually, the fact that it “doesn’t seem that any Popes have chosen to experiment” is incorrect. Several popes have, for reasons unkown, cancelled their ex cathedra statements and never made them.

Honorius embraced heresy privately, but never did feel compelled to make an official statement in support.

Pope St Agatho, who refused to condemn Honorius’ heresy, died suddenly before the end of the council in question. The new Pope, Leo II, approved the condemnation, but with the special note that it was NOT for teaching heresy, but for his failure to reject it.

So yes, popes have died in the past when their official statements would not have matched with the will of God through His church. I don’t think St Agatho was the only one with plans to make an infallible declaration who didn’t live to see the chair, either, but I’m at work so my references are limited here 😦
 
LaSalle said:
Good one. I guess somehow God is able to do it without infringing on their free will. Also, I do think that if a Pope aimed to teach error, striking them down mute, blind or even dead is always a possibility.
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Some believe that Pope Sixtus V was about to promulgate an error-riddled version of the Vulgate in a solemn and infallible manner, but died before he could do so. He was a pretty healthy man and there were no signs of foul play.

I don’t know the details, so I can’t really say if the conditions for infallibility were met.
 
I don’t know about all thay stuff you guys just said.
But, on a more practical level, The Pope is surrounded by alot of people and I bet they talk about alot of things.If he all of a sudden has an inspiration, I doubt seriously if His advisors would allow him to just say it.They’re going to discuss it at length. I am pretty sure that anything that the Pope says ex-cathedra has been hashed out ad nauseum between he and his buds.
But, I could be wrong…
🤷
 
Yes, that’s also part of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit gives wisdom to us as individuals, and also gives wisdom and truth to the ordinary teaching authority of the Church (the Magisterium). The Pope’s advisors who help him out are part of this.
 
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