View source for Infallibility of the Church

{{Short description|Christian concept}}
The '''infallibility of the Church''' is the belief that the [[Holy Spirit in Christianity|Holy Spirit]] preserves the [[Christian Church]] from errors that would contradict its essential doctrines. It is related to, but not the same as, indefectibility, that is, "she remains and will remain the Institution of Salvation, founded by Christ, until the [[Eschatology|end of the world]]."<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://jloughnan.tripod.com/dogma.htm |title=Dogmas of the Catholic Faith |access-date=2014-11-23 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150216175051/http://jloughnan.tripod.com/dogma.htm |archive-date=2015-02-16 |url-status=dead }}</ref> The doctrine of infallibility is premised on the authority [[Jesus]] granted to the [[Apostles in the New Testament|apostles]] to "bind and loose" ([[Matthew 18]]:18; [[John 20:23]]) and in particular the promises to [[Saint Peter|Peter]] ([[Matthew 16]]:16–20; [[Luke 22]]:32) in regard to [[papal infallibility]].

==Ecumenical councils==
The [[Roman Catholic Church]]<ref>{{Cite web |title=CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: General Councils |url=https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/04423f.htm |access-date=2023-01-01 |website=www.newadvent.org}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Washburn |first=Christian D. |date=2010 |title=St. Robert Bellarmine on the Infallibility of General Councils of the Church |url=https://www.academia.edu/36244015 |journal=Annuarium Historiae Conciliorum |volume=42 |issue=1 |pages=171–192 |doi=10.30965/25890433-04201011 |issn=0003-5157}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Philip Schaff: NPNF2-14. The Seven Ecumenical Councils - Christian Classics Ethereal Library |url=https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf214.iii.ii.html |access-date=2023-01-01 |website=www.ccel.org}}</ref> and the [[Eastern Orthodox Church]]<ref>{{Cite web |title=Confession of Dositheus, Synod of Jerusalem (1672) |url=https://www.crivoice.org/creeddositheus.html |access-date=2024-06-14 |website=Christian Resource Institute}} "Moreover, when any man speaks from himself he is liable to err, and to deceive, and be deceived; but the Catholic Church, as never having spoken, or speaking from herself, but from the Spirit of God — who being her teacher, she is ever unfailingly rich — it is impossible for her to in any wise err, or to at all deceive, or be deceived; but like the Divine Scriptures, is infallible, and has perpetual authority." (Decree 2)</ref> hold the doctrine that the [[Ecumenical council|ecumenical councils]] are infallible. However, the Eastern Orthodox churches accept only the [[First seven ecumenical councils|seven ecumenical councils]] from [[First Council of Nicaea|Nicaea I]] to [[Second Council of Nicaea|Nicaea II]] as genuinely ecumenical, while Roman Catholics accept twenty-one. Only a very few [[Protestantism|Protestants]] believe in the infallibility of ecumenical councils,{{Source needed|date=July 2024}} and these usually restrict infallibility to the [[Christology|Christological]] statements of the first seven councils.{{Source needed|date=July 2024}} [[Lutheranism|Lutherans]] recognize the first four councils,<ref>''See, e.g.'' Lutheran-Orthodox Joint Commission, Seventh Meeting, The Ecumenical Councils, Common Statement, 1993, ''available at'' http://www.helsinki.fi/~risaarin/lutortjointtext.html#ecum ("We agree on the doctrine of God, the Holy Trinity, as formulated by the Ecumenical Councils of Nicaea and Constantinople and on the doctrine of the person of Christ as formulated by the first four Ecumenical Councils.").</ref> whereas most [[High Church]] [[Anglican]]s accept all seven as persuasive but not infallible.<ref>''See'' The Conciliar Anglican, Ask An Anglican: The Ecumenical Councils, Aug. 3, 2011, ''available at'' http://conciliaranglican.com/2011/08/03/ask-an-anglican-the-ecumenical-councils/ {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130414054724/http://conciliaranglican.com/2011/08/03/ask-an-anglican-the-ecumenical-councils/ |date=2013-04-14 }} ("While it is possible for a Council to err, it is so manifestly unlikely in the event of a truly Ecumenical Council that the conclusions of such a Council should be treated as final.").</ref>

==Catholic Church==
{{Original research section|date=November 2021}}
[[Catholic theology|Catholicism]] teaches that [[Jesus Christ]], "the Word made Flesh" ({{bibleverse|John|1:14}}), is the source of [[divine revelation]] and, as the Truth, he is infallible.<ref>[https://www.vatican.va/archive/ccc_css/archive/catechism/p123a9p4.htm#889 CCC 889]</ref> The [[Second Vatican Council]] states, "For this reason Jesus perfected revelation by fulfilling it through His whole work of making Himself present and manifesting Himself: through His words and deeds, His signs and wonders, but especially through His death and glorious resurrection from the dead and final sending of the Spirit of truth." (''[[Dei verbum]]'', 4). The content of Christ's divine revelation is called the [[deposit of faith]], and is contained in both [[Sacred Scripture]] and [[sacred tradition]], not as two sources but as a single source.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_20051010_dei-verbum-levada_en.html|title=Dei Verbum – Forty Years Later – His Eminence Card. William Joseph Levada, 10 October 2005|website=www.vatican.va|access-date=2017-04-30}}</ref><!-- THIS WHOLE BIT IS A MATTER OF OPINION WHICH GOES AGAINST OTHER OPINIONS TENABLE IN THE CHURCH TODAY:, as well as of the ordinary and universal magisterium. Despite its name, the "ordinary and universal magisterium" falls under the infallible sacred magisterium, and in fact is the usual manifestation of the infallibility of the Church, the decrees of popes and councils being "extraordinary". Examples of infallible extraordinary Conciliar decrees include the Council of Trent's decree on justification, and the First Vatican Council's definition of papal infallibility.
Examples of infallible teachings of the ordinary and universal magisterium are harder to point to, since these are not contained in any one specific document, but are the common teachings found among the Bishops dispersed through the world yet united with the Pope. Pope John Paul II specifically clarified that the reservation of ordination to males is infallible under the infallibility of the ordinary and universal magisterium of the Church, without issuing a corresponding extraordinary papal definition. It has been suggested that Pope John Paul II did this to remind everyone that the ordinary and universal magisterium can also be infallible, and that an extraordinary definition is not necessary to make a teaching irrevocably binding and demanding of supernatural faith. In fact, the ordinary and universal magisterium is the usual manifestation of infallibility, the decrees of popes and councils being the extraordinary expression.
The document Pope John Paul II approved—signed by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (later known as Pope Benedict XVI), and Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone—answers the question "Whether the teaching that the Church has no authority whatsoever to confer priestly ordination on women, which is presented in the Apostolic Letter Ordinatio Sacerdotalis to be held definitively, is to be understood as belonging to the deposit of faith" with "Affirmative."
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A document signed by [[Cardinal Ratzinger]] and [[Tarcisio Bertone|Cardinal Bertone]] speaks of
{{Blockquote|...&nbsp;the more recent teaching regarding the doctrine that priestly ordination is reserved only to men. The Supreme Pontiff, while not wishing to proceed to a dogmatic definition, intended to reaffirm that this doctrine is to be held definitively, since, founded on the written Word of God, constantly preserved and applied in the Tradition of the Church, it has been set forth infallibly by the ordinary and universal Magisterium. As the prior example illustrates, this does not foreclose the possibility that, in the future, the consciousness of the Church might progress to the point where this teaching could be defined as a doctrine to be believed as divinely revealed.<ref>[http://www.ewtn.com/library/CURIA/CDFADTU.HTM DOCTRINAL COMMENTARY ON THE CONCLUDING FORMULA OF THE PROFESSIO FIDEI]. EWTN. Retrieved: 23 March 2013</ref>}}

===Pope===
The doctrine of [[papal infallibility]] states that when the pope teaches ''ex cathedra'' his teachings are infallible and irreformable. Such infallible papal decrees must be made by the pope, in his role as leader of the whole Church, and they must be definitive decisions on matters of faith and morals which are binding on the whole Church. An infallible decree by a pope is often referred to as an ''ex cathedra'' statement. This type of infallibility falls under the authority of the sacred magisterium.

The doctrine of papal infallibility was formally defined at the [[First Vatican Council]]<ref>{{Cite book |last=Belmonte |first=Charles |url=https://fsubelmonte.weebly.com/uploads/1/9/7/1/19715887/fsu1.pdf |title=Faith Seeking Understanding |publisher=Studium Theologiae Foundation, Inc. |year=2006 |isbn=971-91060-4-2 |editor-last=Belmonte |editor-first=Charles |edition=2nd |volume=I |location=Mandaluyong, Metro Manila, Philippines |pages=428 |access-date=April 13, 2023}}</ref> in 1870, although belief in this doctrine long predated this council and was premised on the promises of Jesus to Peter (Mat 16:16-20; Luke 22:32).<ref>[[First Vatican Council|Vatican I]], ''Dei Filius'' ch. 3 ¶ 1 and ''Pastor Aeternus'' ch. 4 ¶ 5. [[Second Vatican Council|Vatican II]], ''[[Lumen gentium]]'' §&nbsp;25 ¶ 3. 1983 Code of Canon Law 749 §&nbsp;1.</ref>

===Ordinary and universal magisterium===
The ordinary and universal [[magisterium]] is considered infallible when it proposes a doctrine that the pope and the bishops dispersed throughout the world who are in communion with the successor of St. Peter universally hold as definitive.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Moline |first=Enrique |url=https://fsubelmonte.weebly.com/uploads/1/9/7/1/19715887/fsu1.pdf |title=Faith Seeking Understanding |publisher=Studium Theologiae Foundation, Inc. |year=2006 |isbn=971-91060-4-2 |editor-last=Belmonte |editor-first=Charles |edition=2nd |volume=I |location=Mandaluyong, Metro Manila, Philippines |pages=99 |access-date=April 13, 2023}}</ref> Of the ordinary magisterium, the Second Vatican Council said: "Bishops, teaching in communion with the Roman Pontiff, are to be respected by all as witnesses to divine and Catholic truth. In matters of faith and morals, the bishops speak in the name of Christ and the faithful are to accept their teaching and adhere to it with a religious assent."<ref>''Lumen Gentium'', 25</ref>

==Lutheranism==
[[File:AugsburgConfessionArticle7OftheChurch.jpg|thumb|...one holy Church is to continue forever. The Church is the congregation of saints, in which the Gospel is rightly taught and the Sacraments are rightly administered.
–[[Augsburg Confession]]<ref>[http://www.bookofconcord.org/augsburgconfession.php#article7 Augsburg Confession, Article 7, Of the Church]</ref>]]
Lutheran theology teaches that the Church is indefectible, as with Catholic doctrine.<ref name="TS1979">{{cite journal |title=Teaching Authority and Infallibility in the Church Common Statement |journal=Theological Studies |date=1 March 1979 |volume=40 |issue=1 |pages=113–166 |doi=10.1177/004056397904000105 |s2cid=220519207 |language=English |quote=For while Lutherans share with Catholics the conviction that the Church of Christ is indefectible, they regard the maintenance of this indefectibility as the sovereign work of God.}}</ref> Lutheran churches hold that the "maintenance of this indefectibility as the sovereign work of God."<ref name="TS1979"/>

==Anglicanism==
The [[Church of England]] claimed this type of authority over the people of England, but the idea is no longer popular within the church, owing to a lack of commonly accepted traditions and to disputes as to some peripheral doctrines. However, Anglicanism holds to a unique [[ecclesiology]]: in the Anglican view, churches in the historic episcopate (such as the Anglican, Roman Catholic, Scandinavian Lutheran, [[Moravian Church|Moravian]], Old Catholic, [[Church of the East|Persian]], Eastern Orthodox and [[Oriental Orthodoxy|Oriental]] churches) that maintained apostolic succession, belief, and practice are all branches of the Universal Church.<ref name="Kinsman1924">{{cite book |last1=Kinsman |first1=Frederick Joseph |title=Americanism and Catholicism |url=https://archive.org/details/MN5170ucmf_4 |date=1924 |publisher=[[Longman]] |page=[https://archive.org/details/MN5170ucmf_4/page/n232 203] |language=en |quote=The one most talked about is the "Branch Theory," which assumes that the basis of unity is a valid priesthood. Given the priesthood, it is held that valid Sacraments unite in spite of schisms. Those who hold it assume that the Church is composed of Catholics, Eastern Orthodox, eastern heretics possessing undisputed Orders, and Old Catholics, Anglicans, Swedish Lutherans, Moravians, and any others who might be able to demonstrate that they had perpetuated a valid hierarchy. This is chiefly identified with High Church Anglicans and represents the survival of a seventeenth century contention against Puritans, that Anglicans were not to be classed with Continental Protestants.}}</ref> Anglicans believe there will always be a section of the Christian Church, although possibly not the Anglican Church, which will not fall into major heresy.<ref>{{bibleverse|Mt|16:18}}</ref>

==Tradition and scripture==
Catholics and Orthodox Christians believe that divine revelation (the one "Word of God") is contained both in the words of God in [[Religious text#Christianity|sacred scripture]] and in the deeds of God in [[sacred tradition]]. Everything asserted as true by either scripture or tradition is true and infallible.
{{Blockquote|This plan of revelation is realized by deeds and words having an inner unity: the deeds wrought by God in the history of salvation manifest and confirm the teaching and realities signified by the words, while the words proclaim the deeds and clarify the mystery contained in them. By this revelation then, the deepest truth about God and the salvation of man shines out for our sake in Christ, who is both the mediator and the fullness of all revelation.|Second Vatican Council, ''Dei verbum,'' n. 2}}

[[Methodism|Methodists]] and Anglicans teach the doctrine of ''[[prima scriptura]]'', which suggests that Scripture is the primary source for Christian doctrine, but that "tradition, experience, and reason" can nurture the Christian religion as long as they are in harmony with the [[Bible]].<ref name="WELS2014">{{cite web|url=http://www.wels.net/what-we-believe/questions-answers/christian/methodist-beliefs|title=Methodist Beliefs: In what ways are Lutherans different from United Methodists?|year=2014|publisher=Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod|language=en|access-date=22 May 2014|quote=The United Methodists see Scripture as the primary source and criterion for Christian doctrine. They emphasize the importance of tradition, experience, and reason for Christian doctrine. Lutherans teach that the Bible is the sole source for Christian doctrine. The truths of Scripture do not need to be authenticated by tradition, human experience, or reason. Scripture is self authenticating and is true in and of itself.|archive-date=22 May 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140522105449/http://www.wels.net/what-we-believe/questions-answers/christian/methodist-beliefs|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Humphrey2013">{{cite book|last=Humphrey|first=Edith M.|title=Scripture and Tradition |date=15 April 2013|publisher=Baker Books|language=en |isbn=978-1-4412-4048-4|page=16|quote=historically Anglicans have adopted what could be called a prima Scriptura position.}}</ref>

[[Yves Congar]], who thought Catholics could acknowledge a substantial element of truth in the Lutheran and [[Reformed Christianity|Reformed]] doctrine ''[[sola scriptura]],'' wrote that "we can admit ''sola scriptura'' in the sense of a material sufficiency of canonical Scripture. This means that Scripture contains, in one way or another, all truths necessary for salvation." This has led to the tenable position of the "two modes" theory.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/view.cfm?id=6804|title=Library : The Complex Relationship between Scripture and Tradition|publisher=catholicculture.org|access-date=2017-04-30}}</ref>

In his book, [[James F. Keenan]] reports studies by some academics. A study by Bernard Hoose states that claims to a continuous teaching by the Church on matters of sexuality, life and death, and crime and punishment are "simply not true." After examining seven medieval texts about homosexuality, Mark Jordan argues that, "far from being consistent, any attempt to make a connection among the texts proved impossible." He calls the tradition's teaching of the Church "incoherent". Karl-Wilhelm Merks considers that sacred tradition is "not the truth guarantor of any particular teaching." Keenan, however, says that studies of "manualists" such as [[John T. Noonan Jr.]] demonstrate that, "despite claims to the contrary, manualists were co-operators in the necessary historical development of the moral tradition." Noonan, according to Keenan, has provided a new way of viewing at "areas where the Church not only changed, but shamefully did not."<ref>{{cite book|author=James F. Keenan|title=A History of Catholic Moral Theology in the Twentieth Century: From Confessing Sins to Liberating Consciences |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KWbtc5XPMw0C&pg=PA45|date=17 January 2010|publisher=A&C Black|isbn=978-0-8264-2929-2|pages=45–46}}</ref>

== Christian fundamentalism ==
[[Evangelicalism|Evangelical]] [[Christian Fundamentalism|Fundamentalist]] churches believe that the primary method of Bible study is [[Biblical literalism|literal interpretation]], and that the [[Biblical hermeneutics|interpretation]] of these verses is infallible and therefore cannot be discussed.<ref>James Barr, ''Bible and Interpretation: Volume I: Interpretation and Theology'', OUP Oxford, UK, 2013, p. 454, 458</ref><ref>W. Glenn Jonas Jr., ''The Baptist River: Essays on Many Tributaries of a Diverse Tradition'', Mercer University Press, USA, 2008, p. 125: "Independents assert that the Bible is a unified document containing consistent propositional truths. They accept the supernatural elements of the Bible, affirm that it is infallible in every area of reality, and contend that it is to be interpreted literally in the vast majority of cases. Ultimately, they hold not merely to the inerrancy of Scripture, but to the infallibility of their interpretation of Scripture. The doctrine of premillennialism serves as a case in point. Early on in the movement, Independents embraced premillennialism as the only acceptable eschatological view. The BBU made the doctrine a test of fellowship. When Norris formed his Premillennial Missionary Baptist Fellowship (1933), he made premillennialism a requirement for membership. He held this doctrine to be the only acceptable biblical position, charging conventionism with being postmillennial in orientation."</ref>

==Consequences for ecumenism==
The Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, and Oriental Orthodox Churches, and the various Protestant denominations are divided by their different views on infallibility. The [[Ecumenism|ecumenical movement]], which hopes to reunify all of Christianity, has found that the Catholic Church's Papacy is one of the most divisive of issues for Protestants and Eastern Orthodox, while Catholics view the Papacy as necessary source of the Church's unity and an indispensable ministry bestowed by Christ on the Church. Papal infallibility has often been misunderstood by many [[Protestant]] [[Christian denomination|denomination]]s and among some within Eastern Orthodoxy as well.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://geneva.rutgers.edu/src/christianity/church.html |title=What is the Church? |access-date=2010-12-03 |archive-url=https://archive.today/19981206103950/http://geneva.rutgers.edu/src/christianity/church.html |archive-date=1998-12-06 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

==See also==
{{Portal|Christianity|Catholicism}}
* [[John 20:23]]
* [[Biblical infallibility]]
* [[Biblical inerrancy]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
*{{cite book|chapter=[[s:Sermons from the Latins/Sermon 38|The Indestructibility of the Church.]] |title=Sermons from the Latins|year=1902|publisher= Benziger Brothers|first=Robert|last=Bellarmine|author-link=Robert Bellarmine}}
* {{cite book|last=Harkianakis|first=Stylianos|author-link=Stylianos Harkianakis|title=The Infallibility of the Church in Orthodox Theology|year=2008 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MB7lQKmusxwC|location=Sydney|publisher=St Andrew's Orthodox Press|isbn=978-1-920691-98-1}}
*{{Cite Catholic Encyclopedia |wstitle=Infallibility |volume=7 |first=Patrick Joseph  |last=Toner}}

==External links==
* [https://www.myriobiblos.gr/texts/english/stylian_3.html Dogma and Authority in the Orthodox Church]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20070222052844/http://www.goarch.org/en/ourfaith/articles/article7063.asp The Fundamental Teachings of the Eastern Orthodox Church]

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