Papal Infallibility?

 Papal Infallibility is defined as: “A dogma of the Catholic Church which states that, in virtue of the promise of Jesus to Peter, the Pope when he speaks ex cathedra is preserved from the possibility of error on doctrine "initially given to the apostolic Church and handed down in Scripture and tradition.”  There is much misunderstanding, both among Catholics and Protestants about what this means.  It does not mean that whatever the pope says is infallible.  Since the start of the tenure of Pope Francis we’ve seen constant mixed messages and thoroughly confusing pronouncements.  Many pronouncements look to be contrary to Biblical truth and church teaching, such as the blessings of homosexual couples. No, this does not fall under infallibility.  Infallibility must be “ex cathedra,” from the Chair, and only on issues of Biblical or moral truth.  History has shown that many popes have been dead wrong, such as when they opposed and persecuted Galileo for his scientific findings which were confirmed by other scientists and are today accepted science without debate.

 

Given all of this, as a Catholic myself, I find papal infallibility problematic in general and dubious in particular.  Let’s start from the history of this doctrine.  Pope Pius IX made this proclamation, and it was affirmed by the First Vatican Council in 1869-70 and Vatican II in 1963-65. This dogma remains controversial to this day.  First, Pope Pius IX, known as Pio Nono in Italy, I personally consider a bad pope; perhaps one of the worst popes of all time.   I wrote about him in a post on this blog titled “Pope Pius IX, King and Tyrant.”  Click here to read it.  Pius IX had a very turbulent and troubling papacy.  During his reign, the pope was the head of a country, besides the Vatican:  The Papal States which included most of central to Northern Italy; from Rome to Bologna.  The pope ran the Papal States with an iron had.  He was the king; opposition to him was considered equal to a sin and dealt with ruthlessly.  My blog post mentioned earlier gives the details.  Also, the reign of Pope Pius IX was a very turbulent period with rebellion and war.  In 1850 after a rebellion against him, Pius IX called upon France to rescue him.  France sent 30,000 soldiers who attacked and sacked Rome, killing over 2,000 Romans.  After the French took Rome, and against the advice of the French leaders and authorities to not take revenge on rebels, Pius IX executed many Romans who had opposed him, without trial and in public; some in the main square of Rome, Piazza del Popolo.  France even sent the pope a gift:  Two new guillotines.  Again, the details are in the blog post mentioned earlier.  In 1870 the new unified Italy finally took control of Rome and the Papal States.  The pope lost all his territory except for the Vatican.  A final note on Pope Pius IX:  Pope John II in 2000 proclaimed him “Blessed,” the first step to sainthood.  Who am I to judge?  as Pope Francis famously stated.

 

Papal infallibility has been used only twice since 1854 when the same Pope Pius IX proclaimed it in connection with the Immaculate Conception of Mary and the second time when Pope Pius XII affirmed the same in 1950; in both cases after polling of bishops.  In defense of papal infallibility, whatever is considered under these auspices must meet certain strict standards, and that is Biblical truth and the agreement of the entire Magisterium, not just a Papal Bul.  There are universal truths that cannot change.  The truth of the resurrection cannot change for example.  The truth of Christ’s redemptive work on the cross cannot change.