Do these errors and mistakes in the past prove that the teaching
authority itself should be discounted?
Do these errors and mistakes in the past
prove that the teaching authority itself should be
discounted?
The teaching authority, just like the Church itself,
is human and stands in constant need of reform. This does not mean that it is
not exercising an important function.
The excessive claims of the present Roman authorities and
the oppressive regime they inflict on the universal Church force us to remind
the whole community of faith of the previous errors and mistakes of these
bodies which, in the eyes of many of the faithful, enjoy an undeserved aura of
'infallibility'.
However, the episcopate, headed by the Pope, have a very
important task of preserving the communio of the whole body of the
Church and of witnessing to the revealed truths that belong to its treasury of
faith. Also, in spite of its many failings in the past, the teaching authority
has greatly contributed to keeping the Church on course.
We do not discard cars, railways or planes because
accidents happen at times. We learn from the mistakes to prevent them happening
again.
Jesus did not reject Peter because he denied him three
times in the house of Annas and Caiaphas (Mark 14,66-72). He accepted
Peter’s repentance and made him a shepherd who would ‘lead’ with
love because he had himself experienced the need of sympathy and love (John
21,15-17). When Peter erred in Antioch, by distancing himself from the newly
converted Gentile Christians, Paul corrected Peter in front of the whole
community because he was not ‘respecting the true meaning of the
Gospel’ (Galatians 2,14).
Do we reject the papacy because Peter made mistakes?
The teaching authority, just like the Church itself,
is human and stands in constant need of reform. This does not mean that it is
not exercising an important function. 
