First, I apologize if this is not in the correct forum…I may post in a different forum if I find a more appropriate one.
A friend of mine told me that Blessed Pope John Paul II never spoke from the seat of Peter in matters of faith and moral while he was Pope.
- Is that correct?
- Why didn’t he?
- When he added the luminous mysteries, that is not considered speaking from the seat of Peter…right?
Thank you everyone & God bless.
The Rosary is a private devotion. It does not fall under the umbrella of faith and morals, but under the umbrella of piety. The truth is that the Rosary has been modified many times and there are many versions of it. If you travel around between the Eastern Catholic Churches, you’ll see some variations. The same will happen if you travel between the major religious orders of men. The most common version in the Latin Church is the Dominican Rosary, to which Bl. John Paul added the Luminous mysteries. This is not the first time that additions have been made to the Dominican Rosary. The original rosary, prayed long before St. Dominic was very simple, without mysteries and without the extra prayers at the beginning and end. It was St. Dominic who organized it into 15 decades and later Dominicans added the mysteries. The Holy See has never added or deleted anything. This was probably the first time that a pope contributed to the development of the Rosary. Most of the time, the Rosary was modified by the religious orders, each according to their customs and their piety. For example, Franciscans have only seven decades to the Rosary and 14 mysteries – the 7 Joys of Mary are said through the year except on Fridays and Lent, then you say the 7 Sorrows of Mary.
As to whether Bl. John Paul ever spoke from the Chair of Peter, that’s a misnomer. Many people confuse the term Ex Cathedra with papal infallibility. To speak Ex Cathedra is to make an infallible pronouncement and to declare from the Chair of Peter adds more emphasis to it.
However, that does not mean that the Pope must speak EX Cathedra for his pronouncements to be infallible. Whenever the pope speaks on matters that are revealed truth, be they doctrine or morals, they are always infallible, because Truth cannot be in error.
There are a number of statements made by Bl. John Paul that fit into this category. The two most outstanding are the decree on the ordination of women and the decree on abortion. In both cases, the Holy Father invokes the authority of Peter which has been handed down to him and in both cases he is speaking of matters that have been revealed. He is declaring that the Church will assent by faith, not just obedience, to the fact that no woman can ever become a priest and that abortion is always gravely sinful and he attaches the penalty of excommunication to both the ordination of women and abortion. Only the person speaking in the place of Peter can make such a statement.
All Ex Cathedra Statements are infallible, but not all infallible statements are stated from the Chair . . . however, they are binding for all time. No pope can change them, because they are speaking of revealed truths. What the pope is doing is making it clear that this has been revealed and this has been the faith of the Church and will always be the faith of the Church.
In answer to your friend’s comment, the pope has spoken from the Chair of Peter only twice in 2000 years. First, when he declared the Immaculate Conception to be a binding dogma on all Catholics and second when he declared the Assumption of Mary to be binding on all Catholics. Popes have spoken infallibly many times in the past 2,000 years. Each time he declares that something is revealed truth, he is speaking infallibly. Truth cannot be in error.
People use the Ex Cathedra thing as a loophole to get out of certain things. It does not work that way. A statement need not be from the Chair of Peter to be binding and to absolute unquestionable truth. If it comes from the faith of the Church, handed down from the Apostles, it is infallible and requires that Catholics believe it. Many popes have made such statements on different subjects.
Fraternally,
Br. JR, OSF
