Why isn't the Church infallible of matters outside of faith and morals as well?

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Ben_Sinner

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The Church claims to be infallible in matters of faith and morals. Everything else, such as quantum physics, science, medicine, psychology, etc. is not infallible when discussed by the Church.

My question is, why can’t the Church speak infallibly about EVERYTHING? Why does it have to be limited to only faith and morals?

Can one really have infallibilty in faith in morals while at the same time not having infallibility with a lot of the components that make up those faith and morals (physics, psychology, biology, mathematics, etc.)?
 
Ben_Sinner said:
The Church claims to be infallible in matters of faith and morals. Everything else, such as quantum physics, science, medicine, psychology, etc. is not infallible when discussed by the Church.

My question is, why can’t the Church speak infallibly about EVERYTHING? Why does it have to be limited to only faith and morals?

Can one really have infallibility in faith in morals while at the same time not having infallibility with a lot of the components that make up those faith and morals (physics, psychology, biology, mathematics, etc.)?
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This is a hard question to just come right out an answer, but I will try and hopefully not be too confusing.

First, let me point out that the fact that the Church only claims infallibility in matters of faith and morals actually proves the truth that much more. To me it actually shows how this infallibility is guided by the Holy Spirit.

I love how Jesus refers to us as sheep. I raise sheep and can tell you it is an eye opener into the reference. Sheep aren’t stupid animals, as a matter of fact they are pretty smart. Sheep will do what it takes to get what they want. They are self centered, greedy, and in no way neighborly animals, they will trample their babies to get to the food. We are not that far off. I believe if not held back by the Holy Spirit it would be easy for the Church to overstep their bounds and claim infallibility in cases that aren’t.

I hope I’m not rambling to much.

Also, how could the Church make statements on things they know they do not have full knowledge on. An example comes to mind.

I was listening to a debate yesterday and the ex-Catholic was making statements to disprove papal infallibility. He obviously did not know what infallibility means because he was pointing to the changes in Church doctrines over the centuries as his proof. He basically believed infallibility meant what you are asking. One example he used was the church at one point in time spoke of the earth being the center of the universe. He felt this was infallibly taught and since we now know the sun is the center of the universe the Pope can’t be infallible. Well this guy was obviously a very uninformed Catholic and didn’t realize the Holy Spirit is smart enough to not guide the Pope into infallibly teaching scientific facts which we do not have full knowledge of.

One last ramble. I think the Holy Spirit is smart enough not to give us exact specifics with regards to infallible teachings. Most of the moral teachings seem to be more categories that can be explained better with time. For instance 2000 years ago the church couldn’t have a teaching that cloning was immoral, because no one knew what that was. Times change, definitions of words in our cultures change, and as I said we are but sheep. Give us an inch and we will take a mile.

God Bless
 
The main reason we don’t is because that’s not the Church’s purpose. It has never been the Church’s purpose, and is pretty much inconsequential to the Church’s mission.

The church exists to save souls. The scientific fields are neat because they help us understand God’s creation, but play no role in human salvation. They are completely unimportant to the true goal of our lives, which is to attain salvation.
 
“Much less has been defined as to when the universe, life, and man appeared. The Church has infallibly determined that the universe is of finite age—that it has not existed from all eternity—but it has not infallibly defined whether the world was created only a few thousand years ago or whether it was created several billion years ago.”

Source: Catholic Answers

The Church has a Pontifical Academy of Sciences.

pas.va/content/accademia/en.html

The Church is concerned about scientific matters.

Ed
 
Ben_Sinner said:
The Church claims to be infallible in matters of faith and morals. Everything else, such as quantum physics, science, medicine, psychology, etc. is not infallible when discussed by the Church.

My question is, why can’t the Church speak infallibly about EVERYTHING? Why does it have to be limited to only faith and morals?

Can one really have infallibilty in faith in morals while at the same time not having infallibility with a lot of the components that make up those faith and morals (physics, psychology, biology, mathematics, etc.)?
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If I may ask you, what is the purpose of the Church?
 
Matters outside of faith and morals are just not the Church’s mission; just as eyes do not smell nor noses see.

ICXC NIKA
 
Ben_Sinner said:
The Church claims to be infallible in matters of faith and morals. Everything else, such as quantum physics, science, medicine, psychology, etc. is not infallible when discussed by the Church.

My question is, why can’t the Church speak infallibly about EVERYTHING? Why does it have to be limited to only faith and morals?

Can one really have infallibilty in faith in morals while at the same time not having infallibility with a lot of the components that make up those faith and morals (physics, psychology, biology, mathematics, etc.)?
Click to expand...
In order to enhance her efficacy as a source of salvation and to sanctify souls. If the Church were infallible about everything, that would provide very little opportunity for a person to choose to be outside of the Church, and you would have flocks of hollow conversions that do not produce struggle or contemplation in order to arrive at Truth with a humble and mortified heart [Of course even in the present situation, you don’t necessarily need a mortified heart to convert, like with me. God can still punch through with a superabundance of grace & mercy] It is for this same reason that Christ does not desire to perform miracles, but only does so on select occasions, for select purposes, and this is nonetheless a lesser good to his ideal.

Infallibility on doctrine is essential because otherwise She would have no power to bind the faithful to her teachings under pain of damnation, but with the preservation from doctrinal error, that power is intact in the way it is not for a protestant preacher who interprets scripture as a man.
 
TK421 said:
In order to enhance her efficacy as a source of salvation and to sanctify souls. If the Church were infallible about everything, that would provide very little opportunity for a person to choose to be outside of the Church, and you would have flocks of hollow conversions that do not produce struggle or contemplation in order to arrive at Truth with a humble and mortified heart [Of course even in the present situation, you don’t necessarily need a mortified heart to convert, like with me. God can still punch through with a superabundance of grace & mercy] It is for this same reason that Christ does not desire to perform miracles, but only does so on select occasions, for select purposes, and this is nonetheless a lesser good to his ideal.

Infallibility on doctrine is essential because otherwise She would have no power to bind the faithful to her teachings under pain of damnation, but with the preservation from doctrinal error, that power is intact in the way it is not for a protestant preacher who interprets scripture as a man.
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I don’t understand this. At least two miracles need to be proved before a person can be declared a saint. And people have survived almost certain death - or definite death - because God intervened. The so-called mainstream media is rarely concerned about this. But the Church has a list of approved miracles and apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Ed
 
Jesus does not like to perform miracles, since this offends his perfect charity, which desires for people to come to him purely out of love & longing for the Father. He does so as a permission, for select purposes, since they may at times be necessary to get the ball rolling for an interior conversion. Miracles are a good, but they are a vastly inferior good to ordinary acts that are not miraculous.

Although miracles or visions may be experienced by people of tremendous virtue, these miracles are not performed so much for that person’s sake - since they are already very far along in the path of virtue - but are done for the sake of others to be inspired by them. Even with St Paul, it was necessary for God to provide a thorn for him, because otherwise the miracles & visions he had would have had a deleterious effect on his sanctity. They were not good for him and he could have traveled further in holiness without them, but since they were being used in his mission as an apostle in the early Church, he nonetheless experienced them. Miracles were performed more frequently in the early Church in order to keep her alive and to thrive against enormous opposition that could never have been overcome except through supernatural means. Miracles continue to occur in each age (such as the recent vision of his eminence in Nigeria, who was given a Rosary by an apparition of Christ in order to destroy Boko Haram) but they are done only as needed, and only as a permission, and never as an actual ideal.

Having a Church that is infallible about everything and that can ascertain every secret of science & technology for people to gaze at in wonder would be catastrophically bad in her mission to convert souls & cultivate holiness.
 
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