Infallibility must first be taken in the context of the Church of Christ. Christ promised infallibility first and foremost to His Church: "gates of hell shall not prevail against it." (Matthew 16:18). It is the faith of the Church, the "people of God," that cannot go wrong. As I have shown in the section on papacy, this faith of the Christians in Christ and His teachings has been handed on and safeguarded by the Apostles and their successors through the Apostolic Tradition and the Sacred Scripture. It is within this "deposit of divine revelation" which the Church possesses that infallibility is to be found. No one not even bishops or popes, is above this. The Second Vatican Council teaches, "This teaching office (of the Church - Sacred Tradition and Sacred Scripture), but serves it, teaching only what has been handed on, listening to it devoutly, guarding it scrupulously, and explaining it faithfully by divine commission and with the help of the Holy Spirit;..." - Vatican Council II, "Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation." - Just as in any human society, there is a spokesman or a few official spokesmen on the beliefs of that society, so in the visible Church the official spokesmen are the pope and the bishops. The difference between any human society and the divinely instituted society, the Church, is that the former depends either on consensus of all members or on one or two domineering personalities for their beliefs, the latter clings to the "deposit of divine revelation." This is why the Second Vatican Council says that the teaching office of the Church is not above the Word of God.

However, even the "deposit of divine revelation" must be related to concrete human realities. In making relevant the "deposit of divine revelation" to the people of a specific place and time, interpretations of the divine message will necessarily happen. The challenge of the divine message often pushes Christians to deeper reflection. From this come theories of all kinds: extreme positions are taken, erroneous interpretations and interpretations that deepen the understanding of our faith, etc.. Who is to judge which interpretations are genuinely in line with the divine revelation and which are not? When this happens in an ordinary human society, the authority to judge is invested always in its leader or leaders: for example, in a democratic parliamentary system of a country, the power is in the cabinet and the parliament; in ordinary associations, the authority is in the members of the executive committee. In the Church the authority is in the teaching office of the Church (pope and bishops). In an ordinary human society there is no guarantee of freedom from error. In the divine yet human society, the Church, we have the guarantee of the Holy Spirit who has kept and will keep us from error in matters of faith or of truth for salvation. Christ promised this to his Church (Matthew 16:18). He also promised to his Apostles (therefore of their successors, as shown in treatment of the papacy), the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Truth, who "will teach you all things..." (John 14:17, 26). 

As shown in the previous section, historically from the early Church onwards, the Apostles and their successors have always been the guardians and protectors of the divine revelation of Christ. The infallibility of the popes and bishops is rooted in the infallibility of the Church founded on Christ which is guaranteed by the presence of the Holy Spirit of Truth. It is an infallibility that is linked directly to the question of salvation (faith and morals) - Vatican Council II, "Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, "Nos. 12, 25 - not of politics, nor of economics, nor of science, etc. Hence, the Church in Vatican Council II has admitted that she had committed errors in areas other than that of salvation. Pope John Paul II himself admitted that the Church had made a mistake with regard to science in condemning Galileo.

In matters of faith and morals, the Church can be infallible in the following ways: - Op. cit., No. 25 -

(a) the pope, in union with his bishops and with the whole body of the faithful, pronounces ex cathedra (literally, "from his cathedral," meaning officially and solemnly pronouncing as bishop of Rome a dogma binding on all Catholics) a dogma in matters of faith and morals for the whole Church, either: (i) individually or  (ii) together with the body of bishops.

(b) the body of bishops, gathered together in an ecumenical council in union with the pope and the whole body of the faithful, pronounce with the pope, officially and solemnly for the whole Church a definition of faith and morals.

As can be seen, this is the minimal boundary of the understanding of the infallibility of the Church expressed concretely through the Church's official and supreme representatives. In this sense, the official teaching Church seldom does it. Historically, it is only when she has been challenged and attacked in matters of faith that she has officially and solemnly come out with dogmatic definitions so that the faithful could, in faith and trust, without doubt, believe in the truth of the infallible beliefs of the Church.

In the dogmatic infallible definition of faith and morals, it is the content or meaning of the definition that is infallible, not the language. Human words are conditioned by time and space. They are the language of a specific culture in a particular space and time, for example, the Latin language of the Roman culture employed by the Europeans in the past and used by the Church of that era. The Latin language is practically dead now. In trying to understand a dogmatic definition, we must therefore, go back to the original meaning intended by the official teaching Church using a particular language (for example, Latin) of that era. Take the example of the dogmatic definition of "three persons in one God". The meaning is not in the word "persons" itself but in the metaphysical connotation of the word as the Church understood it at that time. And since the modern word "persons" (used to translate prosopon in Greek or persona in Latin) has a different connotation from the original word prosopon or persona as intended by the Church of that time, it is wiser not to employ the word "person" in trying to explain our faith of "three in One God": the word prosopon or persona has a metaphysical connotation; the word "person" in modern English has a strong psychological connotation. If we were to use the word "person", not only would we convey the wrong meaning of the Church's belief (error) to non-Catholics, but we would also confuse ourselves. (cf. chapter on "Triune God").

The infallibility of the Church goes beyond this minimal definition of infallibility of the official teaching authority of the Church. It envelopes the "universal agreement in matters of faith and morals" of the whole Church, "the people of God" or Christ's Body - the whole body of the faithful including bishops and pope. - Op,cit. No.12 -

In summary, the infallibility is first and foremost found in matters pertaining to faith and morals as believed by the whole Church founded on Christ. In specific instances, usually when the Church is challenged, the official teaching authority of the Church can officially and solemnly express the beliefs of the Church in dogmatic pronouncements in the two ways mentioned above.  

In light of the above understanding of the Church, infallibility does not cover: (a) scientific, political, economical and other secular beliefs (b) ordinary teaching of the official teaching authority of the Church, unless it touches on the infallible beliefs of the Church (c) the teaching of an individual bishop (d) the personal beliefs or positions of the pope, that is, when he is not acting as the official representative of the universal Churches, and (e) the opinions of theologians, priests, religious and laity. It must be said at the same time that Catholics must take seriously into consideration the official teachings of the Church, the magisterium, even in matters not infallible.  -   PAGE  TWO   -  

- By His Grace Bishop Paul Tan Chee Ing -  S. J.  -  Straight to Catholics  -    

-   WELCOME TO SACRED SCRIPTURE / WORD OF GOD / HOLY BIBLE READER'S COMMUNITY   - 

Just as God originally inspired the Sacred Scripture/Holy Bible, He has used this means to preserve His Word for future generations. But behind the writing lay periods of time when these messages were circulated in spoken form. [Oral Tradition] The stories of the patriarchs were passed from generation to generation by word of mouth before they were written. [Written Tradition] The messages of the prophets were delivered orally before they were fixed in writing. Narratives of the life and ministry of Christ Jesus were repeated orally for two or three decades before they were given written form.

Wishing you, 'Happy Reading', and may God, the Father, the Son of the living God, Jesus Christ, fills your heart, mind, thoughts, and grants you: The Holy Spirit, that is, Wisdom, Knowledge, Understanding, Counsel, Piety, Fortitude, Fear of the Lord, and also His fruits of the Holy Spirit, that is, Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Trustfulness, Gentleness and Self-Control. Amen! God blessing be upon you!

Why do you call Me, "Lord, Lord" and not do what I say?' "Everyone who comes to Me and listens to My words and acts on them - I will show you what he/she is like. He/She is like a man/woman who when he/she built his/her house dug, deep, and laid the foundations on rock; when the river was in flood it bore down on that house but could not shake it, it was so well built. But the one who listens and does nothing is like the man/woman who built his/her house on soil, with no foundations: as soon as the river bore down on it, it collapsed; and what a ruin that house became!" - Luke 6:46-49 - 

If we live by the truth and in love, we shall grow in all ways into Christ Jesus, who is the head by whom the whole body is fitted and joined together, every joint adding its own strength, for each separate part to work according to it function. So the body grows until it has built itself up, in love." - Ephesians 4:15-16 - 

I still have many things to say to you but they would be too much for you now. But when the spirit of truth comes, he will lead you to the complete truth, since he will not be speaking as from himself, but will say only what he has learnt; and he will tell you of the things to come. He/She will glorify me, since all he/she tells you will be taken from what is mine. Everything the Father has is mine; that is why I said: all he/she tells you will be taken from what is mine." - John 16:12-15 -