This is Pope Benedict XVI. He is the leader of the Catholic Church. He is infallible on faith and morals. Now that statement is a little too much for many Christians.How can a man be infallible? The answer is, of course, that he cannot. The infallibility goes with the office rather than the man. There is a guarantee from Jesus that when the Pope acts as teacher for the Universal Church his teachings will be free from error. This does not mean that he can wake up tomorrow and think of some new teaching and declare it infallible. He has restrictions which keep the office within the bounds of reason. He can only teach the deposit of faith handed down from the Apostles. He may show deeper insight into a doctrine as say declaring the connection between Mary being the Mother of God and the Immaculate Conception but that she was free from sin is implicit in her Motherhood of God made Man. But Popes have seldom acted alone, although they have every right to do so. During the Arian heresy for example the Pope had to stand up against the Bishops of the time and the people stood with him.. They have their bishops to consult. But we know that when the Pope speaks Urbi et Orbe (To the City and the World) to define something as a Dogma then this comes from Heaven. Now where do I get that from? You will find it in Matthew 16. Remember `Thou art Peter..... There is an awful lot of disagreement over the Rock idea. Theologians will disagree using words like Petros, Petra, and Petrus. But Simon`s name was changed to Peter so it was personal. "And I will give you the Keys of the Kingdom of heaven.... Yes this appears, it is objected, only in Matthew whose Gospel was addressing the Jews. True, but only Jews would have understood the significance of the Keys of the Kingdom. Whenever a King went off to war and it could be for months someone is left back home to run the Kingdom in his absence. In Jewish history the Keys of the Royal Household would be given to someone who would exercise the authority of the King. He was in charge in the King`s absence. It is quite simple really. Then Jesus guided Peter in the way he would be in charge. "Whatever you bind on earth will be bound also in heaven" Remember Jesus was talking specifically to Peter not the other Apostles. So whatever Peter said about the Gospel would be said in Heaven, he would have the guidance of Heaven. Infallibility was certainly needed in the early Church when many questions about the nature and person of Christ were discussed and different conslusions drawn. That is quite simple too. It was while listening to a Catholic choir sing `TU ES PETRUS` (Thou are Peter)that Cardinal Newman went over the text in his head and realised that only the Catholic explanation fitted. He was then drawn into the Catholic Church. Peter`s successors were soon exercising authority. In 96 AD the Corinthians were reprimanded by Clement of Rome for trying to appoint their own elders. The Pope ruled that they could not change people appointed by the Apostles and Eminent Men. On his words the situatron was settled. When at the great Councils of Carthage and Hippos the Bishops decided what documents written we could trust The decision that these writings were truly "The Word of God" was sent to the Pope to be ratified. So when you say the Bible is the Word of God then thank the Catholic Church. In a blog I cannot go through all of the points but let us thnk a little more of the Christian situation. What has happened through the years is that men appointed themselves to be Popes. What they thought became important and not authority. To justify this they would also claim with no proof that they were guided by the Holy Spirit. Let us be honest. Without an authroitative figure round which the Church was built on the truth that Christ came to proclaim would have disapperared a long time ago. When the Protestant Reformation started the Reformers claimed to have the Truth from their reading of Scripture. Yet they could not agree on what this truth was. Then disagreements began until there are now over 26,000 sects. But common sense set in and they knew that none of them could claim the truth so they came to the conclusion that nobody had the truth, well not the whole truth. What they find offensive today is that the Universal Catholic Church has remained unmoved by this and still professes to have the whole truth handed down from the Apostles. But why should the Catholic Church change to suit the Protestant opinion. And Catholics who apologise are turning away from the Truth that Christ came to give witness to by his life and death.
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