- Feb 5, 2002
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DIFFICULT MORAL QUESTIONS: When Pope St. John Paul II authoritatively condemned abortion in 1995, he used a form similar to formulas used in earlier infallible declarations.
Q. Faith and morals are the two areas in which the pope can make infallible declarations, that is as pope, as successor of St. Peter, the vicar of Christ on earth. I have always accepted this, and still do. But I draw a blank when I ask myself: What are the infallible papal declarations on morality? Nothing comes to mind, not even slavery. —Gerald
A. The Catholic Church is infallible when she proclaims matters pertaining to Divine Revelation. This proclamation can take four forms, two extraordinary and two ordinary. The extraordinary forms include proclamations by a pope ex cathedra (literally “from the chair”) and solemn doctrinal definitions of an ecumenical council; the ordinary forms include the infallibility of the ordinary and universal magisterium and the infallibility of the whole Christian faithful as expressed through “the supernatural appreciation of faith (sensus fidei) on the part of the whole people, when, from the bishops to the last of the faithful, they manifest a universal consent in matters of faith and morals" (CCC 92, quoting Lumen Gentium).
Continued below.
Popes Have Taught Infallibly on Matters of Faith — But What About Matters of Morals?
Q. Faith and morals are the two areas in which the pope can make infallible declarations, that is as pope, as successor of St. Peter, the vicar of Christ on earth. I have always accepted this, and still do. But I draw a blank when I ask myself: What are the infallible papal declarations on morality? Nothing comes to mind, not even slavery. —Gerald
A. The Catholic Church is infallible when she proclaims matters pertaining to Divine Revelation. This proclamation can take four forms, two extraordinary and two ordinary. The extraordinary forms include proclamations by a pope ex cathedra (literally “from the chair”) and solemn doctrinal definitions of an ecumenical council; the ordinary forms include the infallibility of the ordinary and universal magisterium and the infallibility of the whole Christian faithful as expressed through “the supernatural appreciation of faith (sensus fidei) on the part of the whole people, when, from the bishops to the last of the faithful, they manifest a universal consent in matters of faith and morals" (CCC 92, quoting Lumen Gentium).
Continued below.
Popes Have Taught Infallibly on Matters of Faith — But What About Matters of Morals?
