The Authority of The Pope

 

Guest Writer - Pablo (14 years old)

            What does the term, papal infallibility mean? Are Popes perfect? Because the Holy Father is infallible, is everything that he verbalizes true? The Doctrine of Papal Infallibility states that every utterance that the Pope speaks is not necessarily right or true. After all, if the Pope declared one morning that the sky was brown, but when one looked outside their window it was clearly blue, then one does not have to believe that the sky is brown. The Pope makes mistakes. Papal infallibility does not mean that the Pope does not sin either. The Pope, who is a sinner, confesses his sins at confession almost every week. The Doctrine of Papal infallibility refers to the Pope as infallible, if and only, when he is making a formal declaration as the head of the Catholic Church. This is called speaking ex cathedra which means,“ in the place of Christ.” The Pope's statement also has to be a matter of faith and morals. If the Pope is doing all of this, then the Catholic Church believes that it falls into the realm of infallibility. The Catholic Church knows that the Holy Father's infallibility is true because in John 16:13 it states that the Holy Spirit will "guide you into all truth." In addition, in Matthew 16:19 God bestowed upon Peter, who was the first Pope, the ability to bind and loose and to teach authoritatively.