In the eleven years since Pope Francis was elected Bishop of Rome, it’s been a daily exercise as a professional historian and theologian to demonstrate to certain Catholics and others that this pope is indeed Catholic. There’s something quite incredible about that when you think about it. Francis has not turned faithful Catholics into 19th-century Read more
The Vatican’s top body on life issues has caused a stir for suggesting that one of the church’s most influential and controversial magisterial documents, Humanae Vitae, is not covered by papal infallibility. Over the weekend, a tweet sent from the Pontifical Academy for Life’s official Twitter account suggested that St Pope Paul VI’s 1968 encyclical Read more
The two dogmas adopted 150 years ago this month at the First Vatican Council deserve contemplation rather than celebration. The final vote was accompanied by a violent thunderstorm over St. Peter’s Basilica, darkness lit up only by frequent flashes of lightning and by a flaming taper brought in to enable the voting roll-call to be Read more
To be Catholic in a post-Christian age is to suffer many misconceptions. One example is the idea of papal infallibility. Many assume the doctrine requires Catholics to hold that the Pope makes no mistakes. But the actual terms of papal infallibility is narrowly defined. So much so that it hardly ever applies. In fact, there Read more
The notion of papal infallibility enjoys an unhappy distinction. One of the most widely known memes of the last one-hundred-and-fifty years, it is also one of the most utterly misunderstood. The media’s reporting of two recent events illustrates the issue. First, consider the retirement of Pope Benedict XVI. After Benedict’s dramatic announcement, serious and respected Read more
Is the Pope infallible when he proclaims a new saint, extending their liturgical cult to the universal Church? Many theologians – most in fact – believe he is and it is a commonly held and taught belief. Vatican Insider discusses this with Bishop Giuseppe Sciacca, a distinguished canonist and Adjunct Secretary of the Apostolic Signatura. Is Read more