Papal infallibility question

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sandmountainsli

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Ok,
If papal infallibility is a fact how do you explain Pope Stephen VI and that bizarre incident known as The Cadaver Synod?
Call me judgemental but this does not seem to be the work of a man under the total guidance of the Holy Spirit.
WP
 
sandmountainsli said:
Ok,
If papal infallibility is a fact how do you explain Pope Stephen VI and that bizarre incident known as The Cadaver Synod?
Call me judgemental but this does not seem to be the work of a man under the total guidance of the Holy Spirit.
WP
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criteria for a teaching under papal infallibility
speaks ex cathedra" (“that is, when in the discharge of his office as shepherd and teacher of all Christians, and by virtue of his supreme apostolic authority….”)
“that a doctrine concerning faith or morals”
“must be held by the whole Church”

St. Paul wrote those words to the ordinary members of the Church at Rome, with no reference to the infallibility of the Apostles and Bishops of the Church. To any and every Christian at Rome he said, “Soul, thou art not impeccable—so beware of pride. Take heed to thyself.” Infallibility and impeccability are two very different things. Infallibility means that the Bishops as successors of the Apostles and official teachers of the Church are unable collectively to define erroneous doctrines as dogmas of the faith. Impeccability means that one could not commit sin and fall from grace. Christ was impeccable. But Christians are not impeccable, whether they be members of the laity or of the hierarchy of Bishops. Even the Pope is not impeccable. All can sin; and St. Paul is here particularly warning all against the sin of pride and of boasting against the Jews. He tells them that, as God rejected the Jews, so He will reject Christians also if they are not faithful.
 
Dosdog said it more eloquently than I can, but infallability means that the pope and bishops are incapable of teaching error in the area of faith and morals when teaching on those matters to the whole church. A pope could be insane and declare that the Braves will win the World Series next year (which would be insanity by definition :D), but he would not and could not be speaking infallably on such matters. Furthermore, no pope is sinless, but that does not affect infallability.

Here’s an example of how not to test infallability. I forget which pope it was who commissioned a new translation of Scripture. He became impatient with the translators and because he fancied himself a bit of a Greek scholar, he finished the translation himself and it was full of errors. Days before he was going to declare this the new official translation, he suddenly became ill and died and the translation was scrapped. This is a synopsis in my own words, so I’m probably missing some details. But it serves to illustrate that the Holy Spirit will not permit erroneous teaching in the Church - the gates of hell will not prevail.

If someone knows who the pope is and can provide a link, I’d appreciate it.
 
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