Mistakes by the Teaching
Authority in Rome
In very special and limited circumstances, the Pope has the gift
of infallibility. It means that, when he is speaking as the supreme teacher of
the Church, he can be, provided that all the required conditions apply, the
official spokesman of the community of believers, whose common faith is the
basic carrier of infallibility. “The entire body of the faithful, anointed
as they are by the Holy One, cannot err in matters of belief.” (Lumen Gentium § 12 (a).
The gift of infallibility is, however, often misunderstood -- as
if the Popes, in matters of doctrine and morals, cannot make mistakes. History
proves the opposite, and in view of the overblown claims by the present
teaching authority in Rome - by the Pope himself and the Congregation for
Doctrine, we must, regretfully, remind people of the historical facts.
Here are some instructive examples of errors in doctrine
taught by a variety of Popes:
the errors of Pope Pius IX.
There are also terrible mistakes of judgment and crimes
of injustice perpetrated with the sanction of the Popes. Apart from the
injustices already contained in the previous list:
See also the list of 65 doctrines in which Church teaching has
been changed by Bishop Raymond A. Lucker.
For more information, I recommend:
- Rome has Spoken . . . A Guise to Forgotten Papal
Statements, and How They Have Changed Through the Centuries, Maureen
Fiedler and Linda Rabben (eds.), Crossroad, 370n Lexington Avenue, New York, NY
10017. Published in 1998. ISBN 0-8245-1774-1.
- Theologians and the Magisterium,
by Richard A. McCormick. From Corrective Vision, Explorations in Moral
Theology, Sheed & Ward, 1994, Chapter 7.
|
