eddie too #90
I do think it is a mistaken concept to speak about ultimate authority when speaking about fallible human beings. the RCC itself does not claim the authority to condemn a human being to hell. so, maybe the question could be re-phrased and the word ultimate be removed. like I said, the RCC does not claim ultimate authority.
Ultimate = highest in degree or order.
Supreme = greatest in status, authority or power
This terminology simply means that no other human being has an equal or higher authority from the Christ to teach, sanctify and rule through His name.
John Henry Cardinal Newman himself stressed in
An Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine
Chapter 2. On the Antecedent Argument in behalf of Developments in Christian Doctrine
Extract:
“In barbarous times the will is reached through the senses; but in an age in which reason, as it is called, is the standard of {90} truth and right, it is abundantly evident to any one, who mixes ever so little with the world, that, if things are left to themselves, every individual will have his own view of them, and take his own course; that two or three will agree today to part company tomorrow; that Scripture will be read in contrary ways, and history, according to the apologue, will have to different comers its silver shield and its golden; that philosophy, taste, prejudice, passion, party, caprice, will find no common measure,
unless there be some supreme power to control the mind and to compel agreement.” [My emphasis].
newmanreader.org/Works/development/chapter2.html#present
None other than Christ’s Magisterium has infallibly taught:
Pastor Aeternus (Ecumenical Council Vatican I, Pastor Aeternus)
“Chapter 3.
On the power and character of the primacy of the Roman Pontiff
8. Since
the Roman Pontiff, by the divine right of the apostolic primacy, governs the whole Church, we likewise teach and declare that he ** is the supreme judge of the faithful **[52], and that in all cases which fall under ecclesiastical jurisdiction recourse may be had to his judgment [53]. The sentence of the Apostolic See (than which there is no higher authority) is not subject to revision by anyone, nor may anyone lawfully pass judgment thereupon [54]. And so they stray from the genuine path of truth who maintain that it is lawful to appeal from the judgments of the Roman pontiffs to an ecumenical council as if this were an authority superior to the Roman Pontiff.
9. So, then, if anyone says that **the Roman Pontiff has **merely an office of supervision and guidance, and not the full and
supreme power of jurisdiction over the whole Church, and this not only in matters of faith and morals, but also in those which concern the discipline and government of the Church dispersed throughout the whole world; or that he has only the principal part, but not the absolute fullness, of this supreme power; or that this power of his is not ordinary and immediate both over all and each of the Churches and over all and each of the pastors and faithful: let him be anathema.” [My emphasis]
