Quote:
Originally Posted by Atticus Grinch
Earnest answer to facetious question: he’s only protected from error when he speaks on particular topics, in particular ways. If he doesn’t say the magic words, “This teaching must be held by the whole church,” it’s just an opinion and can be disputed. So Santorum is right that press conference statements are not infallible. Ask GGG for details; for non-Catholics the best understanding is essentially that the Pope has declared further philosophical disputations about an issue to be unproductive. It’s a way of the presiding officer of a giant ongoing meeting to say “Moving on . . .”
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Here is a decent
summary: the only clear statement made by a pope under the papal infallibility doctrine is the assumption of Mary. Other top candidates are the immaculate conception of Mary and the promulgation of the doctrine of infallibility itself. The whole concept may have been a way of trying to say "no mas" to disputes between the Pope and Vatican and Ecumenical Councils, but it's actually proven more useful to continue to call Councils and its a power no Pope really wants to use. And the doctrine of the infallibility of Ecumenical Councils has not died. There is a third concept of infallibility to consider, too, the idea that of infallibility of the Church.
But Santorum doesn't get to just say "I CAN'T HEAR YOU" when the Pope says something he doesn't like.
Did I mention that I love this Pope?
