Infallability

[BTTG]

I think I get it; the invisible church??? Does that include the very visible Catholic Church, which, according to you, is not the church of Matthew 16 founded by Jesus???

And in your opinion it does not matter if one follows the teachings of the Catholic church or the Lutheran church, or the Baptist church or the Pentecostal church or the 7th day Adventist church or one of the many Evangelical churches etc. etc… ad nauseam?

If I may interject:

I think alot of people get hung up over the word “church”. Strong’s concordance for church is: popular meeting, especially a religious congregation (Jewish synagogue, or Christian community of members on earth or saints in heaven or both): - assembly, church.

Therefore, the remnant “church” ( does not have to be a physical building) are those from anywhere in the world who obey the Decalogue and have the spirit of prophecy.

Does the Catholic church really teach prophecy?

Who is the women in Rev. 12?

 

[BTTG]

Marc Anthony;7234566:

And where do any Apostle speak of a canon for scripture? The doctrine of the Trinity? The doctrine for the Incarnation? What about wearing wedding rings? Getting married inside a church? The problem is people expect the Bible to be explicit on every issue that pops in their head. Sorry brother,the Bible was not written for strict explicitness on every issue or doctrine.

Jesus does not want to follow the doctrines of Man. This has happened in the past in which man has tried to determine their own doctrines… (Col 2:20) Wherefore if ye be dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world, why, as though living in the world, are ye subject to ordinances, (Col 2:21) (Touch not; taste not; handle not; (Col 2:22) Which all are to perish with the using; after the commandments and doctrines of men?

(Mat 15:9) But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.

The bible was written for strict explicitness on all doctrines. (Luk 24:27) And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself. (Isa 46:10) Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure: (2Ti 3:15) And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.

From a child until salvation we will be wise knowing the scriptures.

written with love

 

[simspt]

So I’ve done a lot of thinking…perhaps too much as it has led me to question the Catholic Church.

But not in a negative way. I have faith in the Church, that she has a response to my questions and issues; I just don’t know what it is.

My problem is infallablity. My issue is that I don’t see where in Acts of the Apostles we see anybody speak of infallability****. So how do we know that the Church was always understood to have it?

Now, don’t get me wrong. Nowhere in Acts is infallability contradicted. Theoretically it is a possibility, since nobdy erred on what the CC has defined as an infallible statement. But doesn’t it strike ou as…IDK…careless, perhaps, not to simply tell us that the Church had infallible authority? I mean, clearly the whole Church didn’t know that it was infallible, since a lot of Bishops (the direct successors of the Apostles) disagree with this and now belong to the Orthodox Church.

It’s hard to vocalize my thoughts here…actually come to think of it, I happen to agree kind of with JonNC, sort of.

No, JonNC is not responsible for me questioning the Church, so don’t hurt him . I’m just saying that when I see his views on matters regarding the early Church they sort of look like how I view the early Church-that councils were normally called to settle disputes and that nobody ever really claimed to be infallible and when disputes arose, a Council was called to resolve it, with Peter heading the council.

IDK. I sound very…Orthodox, don’t I?

I’m interested to see what both Catholics and non-Catholics have to say on the issue.

Newman’s Development of Doctrine essay might be helpful if you haven’t already read it. To a certain extent both Protestants and Catholics all go beyond the NT with most doctrines we accept.

 

[joe370]

If I may interject:

I think alot of people get hung up over the word “church”. Strong’s concordance for church is: popular meeting, especially a religious congregation (Jewish synagogue, or Christian community of members on earth or saints in heaven or both): - assembly, church.

Therefore, the remnant “church” ( does not have to be a physical building) are those from anywhere in the world who obey the Decalogue and have the spirit of prophecy.

Does the Catholic church really teach prophecy?

Who is the women in Rev. 12?

You said:

…the remnant “church” are those from anywhere in the world who obey the Decalogue and have the spirit of prophecy.

In other words, anyone who bears witness to Jesus, regardless of church affiliation? The CCC agrees with that logic. However, Jesus only established one church and that historical church is the Catholic Church built on Kepha.

Is it your opinion that it does not matter if one follows the teachings of the Catholic church or the Lutheran church, or the Baptist church or the Pentecostal church or the 7th day Adventist church or one of the many Evangelical churches etc. etc… ad nauseam?

The woman in Rev. 12 is queen Mary, mother of king Jesus, who, through travail, gave birth to the church, which is comprised of the rest of her offspring, who keep God’s commands and hold fast their testimony about Jesus:

*Then the dragon was enraged at the woman and went off to wage war against the rest of her offspring—those who keep God’s commands and hold fast their testimony about Jesus.
*

I agree; the church is not a building; I don’t know of anyone who believes that the church is a building.

Regarding prophecy in the old testament sense, that ended when Jesus came into the world. In the new testament sense prophecy simply means to bear witness to Jesus:

And I fell at his feet to worship him. And he said unto me, See thou do it not: I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus: worship God:* for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.***

 

[Irish_Polock]

They don’t keep the Sabbath.

As Christians, keeping the Sabbath is no longer binding for us. Though out Christian history the Church fathers spoke of worshiping on our Lords Day, Sunday. The old covenant has been replaced with the new covenant, and with a minimal amount of deductive reasoning and research you might come to the same conclusion.

 

[joe370]

I guess I do in this case. Though I am not quite sure whether this is actually a majority opinion here or anywhere else.
Thinking that the Orthodox might see it like the Catholics this would mean roughly 1.5 billion. If I’d assume that everyone else disagrees I’d come up with about 600 million (and I even put the African indigenous sects in this number).

Hey Janet…

Wow, you are really getting specific with those numbers. LOL…Janet, if you are right, along with the “many” and the CC is not the church founded by Jesus in the 1st century, then please help me find the church, in the world today, that was founded by Jesus circa AD 33, on Pentecost, in Jerusalem? Remember, leave the Catholic Church out of it for the simple fact that we are assuming for the moment that the CC was NOT founded by Jesus in the 1st century. In other words we are, for the moment, assuming that the CC did not exist in the 1st, 2nd and 3rd century.

 

[Janet1983]

Hey Janet…

Wow, you are really getting specific with those numbers. LOL…Janet, if you are right, along with the “many” and the CC is not the church founded by Jesus in the 1st century, then please help me find the church, in the world today, that was founded by Jesus circa AD 33, on Pentecost, in Jerusalem? Remember, leave the Catholic Church out of it for the simple fact that we are assuming for the moment that the CC was NOT founded by Jesus in the 1st century. In other words we are, for the moment, assuming that the CC did not exist in the 1st, 2nd and 3rd century.

I do not believe that the Catholic Church as we know hertoday existed back then. I would need further research to p(name removed by moderator)oint a date so please forgive my inaccuracy. I believe that the Church, the One Church, that came into existence at Pentecost is what we see today in what you might wish to call the invisible Church.

I do not believe that the Catholic Church is the One Church. I do however believe that there are members of the One Church within the Catholic Church. I do not believe that the Orthodox Church is the One Church. I do however believe that there are members of the One Church within the Orthodox Church. I do not believe that the Lutheran Church is the One Church. I do however believe that there are members of the One Church within the Lutheran Church. I do not believe that the Anglican Church is the One Church. I do however believe that there are members of the One Church within the Anglican Church. I do not believe that the Methodist Church is the One Church. I do however believe that there are members of the One Church within the Methodist Church. I do not believe that the Baptist Church is the One Church. I do however believe that there are members of the One Church within the Baptist Church. I do not believe that the Church of Latter-day Saints is the One Church. I do however believe that there are members of the One Church within the Church of Latter-day Saints.

Any denomination, any split, any group may have members of the One Church within itself. God alone knows the sheep from the goats.
The One Church is made up of all those who are united to Christ through regeneration and salvation and who will be eternally united to Jesus Christ in eternal life.

The visible Church is all of the congregations where Christians meet. Within the visible Church there are saved as well as unsaved people. There are people who are not saved within the visible Church. Going to a churc does not make anybody a Christian just as entering a garage does not make me a car.

All Christians are part of the invisible Church, the One Church that was founded by Christ and upon Christ. We are the Christian Church.

 

[gurneyhalleck1]

So then how do you reconcile what Jesus says that the “gates of hell will not prevail against my Church” and that he’d send us the Holy Spirit to “lead us unto all truth” as well as Jesus commissioning the apostles to bind and loose (notice he didn’t give this power to laity, just apostolic commission here), he prayed for Peter as shepherd, and Jesus doesn’t build his Church on a figurative invisible entity. We read already in the NT that the Church is a tangiable community that can excommunicate, guide, shepherd, and Paul warns constantly against factions and even more against schism. Jesus also asks that we “may all be one.”

There is and never was an invisible figurative Church but a concrete and tangiable one. Your thesis seems to be that for 1,500 years the Church was not legit but rather flawed, tainted, and manipulated until Luther and Calvin came and cleaned up the mess and created a plethora of churches that are now so vast and contradicting and chaotic in number that they have become an invisible communion of believers? This is hardly what Our Lord was talking about or hoping for from my reading of history and Scripture?

I do not believe that the Catholic Church as we know hertoday existed back then. I would need further research to p(name removed by moderator)oint a date so please forgive my inaccuracy. I believe that the Church, the One Church, that came into existence at Pentecost is what we see today in what you might wish to call the invisible Church.

I do not believe that the Catholic Church is the One Church. I do however believe that there are members of the One Church within the Catholic Church. I do not believe that the Orthodox Church is the One Church. I do however believe that there are members of the One Church within the Orthodox Church. I do not believe that the Lutheran Church is the One Church. I do however believe that there are members of the One Church within the Lutheran Church. I do not believe that the Anglican Church is the One Church. I do however believe that there are members of the One Church within the Anglican Church. I do not believe that the Methodist Church is the One Church. I do however believe that there are members of the One Church within the Methodist Church. I do not believe that the Baptist Church is the One Church. I do however believe that there are members of the One Church within the Baptist Church. I do not believe that the Church of Latter-day Saints is the One Church. I do however believe that there are members of the One Church within the Church of Latter-day Saints.

Any denomination, any split, any group may have members of the One Church within itself. God alone knows the sheep from the goats.
The One Church is made up of all those who are united to Christ through regeneration and salvation and who will be eternally united to Jesus Christ in eternal life.

The visible Church is all of the congregations where Christians meet. Within the visible Church there are saved as well as unsaved people. There are people who are not saved within the visible Church. Going to a churc does not make anybody a Christian just as entering a garage does not make me a car.

All Christians are part of the invisible Church, the One Church that was founded by Christ and upon Christ. We are the Christian Church.

 

[BlueShadow123]

I don’t think we’ll ever know for sure which church or religion is the perfect one.

However I can tell you right now that no person is infallible. Only jesus is.

That is, if you look at it from a christian perspective. Other religions obviously say differently.

 

[gurneyhalleck1]

I think infallibility, to be fair to Catholics, must be looked at from the proper context. Catholics don’t believe the pope to be perfect or impeccable, just infallible in certain cases when making officially binding decrees on faith and morals. Where there’s a problem IMO is that they can’t agree on what is and is not infallible?

I don’t think we’ll ever know for sure which church or religion is the perfect one.

However I can tell you right now that no person is infallible. Only jesus is.

That is, if you look at it from a christian perspective. Other religions obviously say differently.

 

[schaick]

Acts 15:28 looks like a statement of infallibility to me.

See the verese in context-

1 Certain people came down from Judea to Antioch and were teaching the believers: “Unless you are circumcised, according to the custom taught by Moses, you cannot be saved.”
…
5 Then some of the believers who belonged to the party of the Pharisees stood up and said, “The Gentiles must be circumcised and required to keep the law of Moses
…
23 With them they sent the following letter:
The apostles and elders, your brothers,

24 We have heard that some

Not Pope infallibility-but committee correcting an inaccurate teaching requiring something that was not required for salvation:

8 God, who knows the heart, showed that he accepted them by giving the Holy Spirit to them, just as he did to us. 9 He did not discriminate between us and them, for he purified their hearts by faith. 10 Now then, why do you try to test God by putting on the necks of Gentiles a yoke that neither we nor our ancestors have been able to bear? **11 No! We believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as they are.” **

 

[schaick]

If it is the Holy Spirit that allows the truths to be known in the doctrine of infallibility.

Matthew 7
15 “Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. 16 By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? 17 Likewise, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. 18 A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.

Galatians 5
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,

Then I would think that these would all be displayed in a Pope making an infallible statement.

Were the fruits present in the Popes making infallible statements? Do the statements promote GOD- Jesus? Does the infallible statement match up with existing revelations from God?

Isaiah 8
20 Consult God’s instruction and the testimony of warning. If anyone does not speak according to this word, they have no light of dawn.

 

[schaick]

So then how do you reconcile what Jesus says that the “gates of hell will not prevail against my Church” and that he’d send us the Holy Spirit to “lead us unto all truth” as well as Jesus commissioning the apostles to bind and loose (notice he didn’t give this power to laity, just apostolic commission here), he prayed for Peter as shepherd, and Jesus doesn’t build his Church on a figurative invisible entity. We read already in the NT that the Church is a tangiable community that can excommunicate, guide, shepherd, and Paul warns constantly against factions and even more against schism. Jesus also asks that we “may all be one.”

There is and never was an invisible figurative Church but a concrete and tangiable one. Your thesis seems to be that for 1,500 years the Church was not legit but rather flawed, tainted, and manipulated until Luther and Calvin came and cleaned up the mess and created a plethora of churches that are now so vast and contradicting and chaotic in number that they have become an invisible communion of believers? This is hardly what Our Lord was talking about or hoping for from my reading of history and Scripture?

***the gates of Hades will not overcome it. ***simply means Jesus Church- all those called out to follow Jesus will win in the end. This is not saying that there is only one denomination, one hierarchy that will not be defeated. The Catholic Church itself has developed into a branch that looks different then the early Church.

Revelation 1
18 I am the Living One; I was dead, and now look, I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades.

Acts 20
28 Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood. 29 I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock. 30 Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them. 31 So be on your guard! Remember that for three years I never stopped warning each of you night and day with tears.

I agree there has always been a visible church governed on the local level that is the church Jesus built.

 

[simspt]

I do not believe that the Catholic Church as we know hertoday existed back then. I would need further research to p(name removed by moderator)oint a date so please forgive my inaccuracy. I believe that the Church, the One Church, that came into existence at Pentecost is what we see today in what you might wish to call the invisible Church.

I do not believe that the Catholic Church is the One Church. I do however believe that there are members of the One Church within the Catholic Church. I do not believe that the Orthodox Church is the One Church. I do however believe that there are members of the One Church within the Orthodox Church. I do not believe that the Lutheran Church is the One Church. I do however believe that there are members of the One Church within the Lutheran Church. I do not believe that the Anglican Church is the One Church. I do however believe that there are members of the One Church within the Anglican Church. I do not believe that the Methodist Church is the One Church. I do however believe that there are members of the One Church within the Methodist Church. I do not believe that the Baptist Church is the One Church. I do however believe that there are members of the One Church within the Baptist Church. I do not believe that the Church of Latter-day Saints is the One Church. I do however believe that there are members of the One Church within the Church of Latter-day Saints.

Any denomination, any split, any group may have members of the One Church within itself. God alone knows the sheep from the goats.
The One Church is made up of all those who are united to Christ through regeneration and salvation and who will be eternally united to Jesus Christ in eternal life.

The visible Church is all of the congregations where Christians meet. Within the visible Church there are saved as well as unsaved people. There are people who are not saved within the visible Church. Going to a churc does not make anybody a Christian just as entering a garage does not make me a car.

All Christians are part of the invisible Church, the One Church that was founded by Christ and upon Christ. We are the Christian Church.

Do you view doctrine or the canon as being important issues within the Christian Church founded by Christ? If so how do you reconcile the differences? Why would you personally choose one over the other to belong to or does even matter?

 

[Gabriel_of_12]

Acts 15:4 After much debate had taken place, Peter got up and said to them, “My brothers, you are well aware that from early days God made his choice among you that through my mouth the Gentiles would hear the word of the gospel and believe.
8
And God, who knows the heart, bore witness by granting them the holy Spirit just as he did us.
9
He made no distinction between us and them, for by faith he purified their hearts.
10
Why, then, are you now putting God to the test by placing on the shoulders of the disciples a yoke that neither our ancestors nor we have been able to bear?
11
On the contrary, we believe that we are saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, in the same way as they.” 5
12
The whole assembly fell silent,

It was Peter himself the first pope who recieved the vision from heaven to allow the Gentiles into the Church. Peter went to council the other apostles (James bishopric in Jerusalem) who’s communities were having difficulty accepting the gentiles and placing Mosaic laws upon them. Peter stood up and spoke Infallibly from what Heaven revealed to him and they all fell silent. What follows Peter’s infallible statement, is the testimony of support from Paul and Barnabas who testified of Peter’s infallible revelation that indeed signs and wonders followed Peter’s teaching to allow the Gentiles into the Church.

So much from the silence, that James gave prescriptions for the Gentiles in a letter to be handed out to all those Jewish convert Church’s having problems with Gentiles entering their communities.

=schaick;7244637]See the verese in context-

1 Certain people came down from Judea to Antioch and were teaching the believers: “Unless you are circumcised, according to the custom taught by Moses, you cannot be saved.”
…
5 Then some of the believers who belonged to the party of the Pharisees stood up and said, “The Gentiles must be circumcised and required to keep the law of Moses
…
23 With them they sent the following letter:
The apostles and elders, your brothers,

24 We have heard that some

Not Pope infallibility-but committee correcting an inaccurate teaching requiring something that was not required for salvation:

8 God, who knows the heart, showed that he accepted them by giving the Holy Spirit to them, just as he did to us. 9 He did not discriminate between us and them, for he purified their hearts by faith. 10 Now then, why do you try to test God by putting on the necks of Gentiles a yoke that neither we nor our ancestors have been able to bear? **11 No! We believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as they are.” **

 

[gurneyhalleck1]

Of course Jesus Christ is the head of the Church and ensures its continuance and triumph but it is through the use of men, the hierarchy of the Church that this is accomplished, from a Catholic perspective. The idea of “denomination” never existed until the 16th Century, schaick? I would disagree with you that the Catholic Church is a “branch.” The Catholic Church began with Matthew 16:18 when Peter is the Rock and at Pentecost the apostles are energized with the H.S. and from that point there is unity of mission, theology, and purpose. We see a united Catholic Church East and West at Nicaea, Chalcedon, Ephesus, and so many other councils. We see the Catholic Church decide what is biblical canon, assemble the Bible coherently, fight off one heresy after the other, and keep theological purity for future generations.

Your thesis seems to be that after the first 20 years or so, the Church collapsed into chaos, started creating a phony priesthood and hierarchy that was corrupt and foolish, and they developed screwed-up theology and liturgy and continued that for another 1500 years until Luther cleaned up the mess. That defies logic IMO.

***the gates of Hades will not overcome it. ***simply means Jesus Church- all those called out to follow Jesus will win in the end. This is not saying that there is only one denomination, one hierarchy that will not be defeated. The Catholic Church itself has developed into a branch that looks different then the early Church.

Revelation 1
18 I am the Living One; I was dead, and now look, I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades.

Acts 20
28 Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood. 29 I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock. 30 Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them. 31 So be on your guard! Remember that for three years I never stopped warning each of you night and day with tears.

I agree there has always been a visible church governed on the local level that is the church Jesus built.

 

[Gabriel_of_12]

Hello Janet; In Colossians 1:15
6 He is the image 7 of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.
16
For** in him 8 were created all things in heaven and on earth**, the visible and the invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers; all things were created through him and for him.
17
He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.
18
He is the head of the body, the church.

The Church of Christ is his body on earth and in heaven, one visible and the same one invisible. If Jesus is the invisible head in heaven with the saints and martyrs, and the Church is his visible body on earth, how can the visible Church (body) of Jesus be without a visible head. The scriptures teach that Peter and the apostles themselves would be the visible head, when Jesus gave them power on earth to baptise, teach, tend his flock, feed his flock and forgive and or retain sin.

Jesus also gave Peter the keys of the Kingdom of God singularly and promised to be with his Church always.

If scripture reveals both an invisible and visible church on earth and in heaven. There must be a visible head in the Church (body) of Jesus Christ. see John 21:15-18.

=Janet1983;7243580]I do not believe that the Catholic Church as we know hertoday existed back then. I would need further research to p(name removed by moderator)oint a date so please forgive my inaccuracy. I believe that the Church, the One Church, that came into existence at Pentecost is what we see today in what you might wish to call the invisible Church.

But Jesus did not build his Church upon himself, because Jesus is the bride groom and the Church is his bride. Jesus built his visible Church upon Peter and the apostles.

Luke 22:28
It is you who have stood by me in my trials;
29
**and I confer a kingdom on you, just as my Father has conferred one on me, **
30
that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom; and you will sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.

Matthew 16:17
Jesus said to him in reply, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah. For flesh and blood 12 has not revealed this to you, but my heavenly Father.
18
And so I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, 13 and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it.
19
I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven. 14 Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”

All Christians are part of the invisible Church, the One Church that was founded by Christ and upon Christ. We are the Christian Church.

 

[BTTG]

As Christians, keeping the Sabbath is no longer binding for us. Though out Christian history the Church fathers spoke of worshiping on our Lords Day, Sunday. The old covenant has been replaced with the new covenant, and with a minimal amount of deductive reasoning and research you might come to the same conclusion.

the old covenant included the 10 commandments. have the 10 commandments been replaced?

 

[BTTG]

You said:

In other words, anyone who bears witness to Jesus, regardless of church affiliation? The CCC agrees with that logic. However, Jesus only established one church and that historical church is the Catholic Church built on Kepha.

Is it your opinion that it does not matter if one follows the teachings of the Catholic church or the Lutheran church, or the Baptist church or the Pentecostal church or the 7th day Adventist church or one of the many Evangelical churches etc. etc… ad nauseam?

The woman in Rev. 12 is queen Mary, mother of king Jesus, who, through travail, gave birth to the church, which is comprised of the rest of her offspring, who keep God’s commands and hold fast their testimony about Jesus:

*Then the dragon was enraged at the woman and went off to wage war against the rest of her offspring—those who keep God’s commands and hold fast their testimony about Jesus.
*

I agree; the church is not a building; I don’t know of anyone who believes that the church is a building.

Regarding prophecy in the old testament sense, that ended when Jesus came into the world. In the new testament sense prophecy simply means to bear witness to Jesus:

And I fell at his feet to worship him. And he said unto me, See thou do it not: I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus: worship God:* for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.***

In Rev. 12 - how did " mother Mary" "(Rev 12:6) And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days.

thank you

 

[peeteyg]

Infallibility comes from matthew 16. When jesus asked the apostles who he was, only peter got this right. He is the only one who got an understanding from god the father. It is this communication from god that constitutes infallibility. He is only infallible in matters of faith or morals. Beyond that he is just like you and I, only with cooler clothes and that Popemobile !