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Infallibility (OSV Encyc. 1997)
The Apostles had the immense fortune to meet Jesus Christ; their lives and eternities were stamped by that meeting. Though their faith was put to many tests, they stuck with Our Lord. In a moment when many abandoned him, Peter said, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life" (Jn 6:68). Peter's answer was that of a man bound to Jesus by love. He did not say, "to what, but to whom, shall we go?". His faith, his fidelity, was to the Person of Jesus. But that also meant fidelity to his teaching, to the words of Jesus: "words of eternal life".
Scripture says forcefully that "without faith it is impossible to please God" (Heb 11:6). Faith, the faith that saves, means believing in the person of Jesus Christ: "You believe in God, believe also in me" (Jn 14:1). It also means believing in his teaching: "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to the whole creation. He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he does not believe will be condemned" (Mk 16:15-16). A practical faith is asked of us; i.e. a faith that endeavors to carry out the teachings of Jesus in one's personal life.
Peter's answer, as well as being that of a man in love, is also the answer of someone with his priorities right. He has reflected on life and death, on health and sickness, on richness and poverty, and realizes that since death ends everything, the only thing that really matters is the eternal life that lies beyond. Each one of us, like Peter, needs to have his or her priorities right. Death is the one certain thing that this life holds for us; it is what comes afterwards that I have to ensure. Do I think I can make Heaven - the good side of eternity - on my own? Am I sure I know the way? Am I aware of the shortcuts that can be taken? In particular, do I see clearly what deadends - or, even more important, what pitfalls - to avoid? Or do I feel the need to find someone, a guide, a Savior, one with words of eternal life? Am I convinced that the one vital thing is to remain close to Christ, keen to hear his voice and ready to obey it?
At the Last Supper, Jesus said to his Apostles, "when I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. And you know the way where I am going". Thomas was quick to intervene: "Lord, we do not know where you are going; how can we know the way?" Jesus replied to him with marvelous and divine words: "I am the way, and the truth, and the life" (Jn 14:3-6). The Apostles believed Jesus, followed him as the way, held to him as the truth, and reached the life which he promised and which he is. With one exception, they adhered to Jesus in faith and in deeds, also after his Ascension, also after Pentecost, when he was no longer visibly present among them. And so they became saints, and pillars of the Church.
To follow the way that is Christ, to believe the truth that is Christ, to reach the life that is Christ: this is our calling too. But - how can we hear and follow Jesus? Does he still speak to us, still guide us? Where are his words to be found? Only in Scripture? And how is one to know what he really wishes to say to us, if Scripture is not clear or men disagree about its meaning, or if it says nothing explicit about important issues with which we are faced in our modern world: abortion, euthanasia, 'in vitro' fertilization...? Has Jesus, the Master, nothing to say to us, no word of truth or guidance, on issues such as these? Has he, knowing men's tendencies to disagree, to misinterpret, to get things wrong, not provided some means by which his words, his teaching, would be preserved in its authenticity throughout the ages?
He has: by endowing his Church with the charism of infallibility - of being free from error - in her presentation of the teaching of salvation. "In order to preserve the Church in the purity of the faith handed on by the apostles, Christ who is the Truth willed to confer on her a share in his own infallibility" (CCC 889). The New Testament leaves no doubt about Christ's decision to set up a visible hierarchical teaching Church, giving authority to the Apostles (and to their successors, the bishops), accompanied by the promise of his presence and that of the Holy Spirit, and the guarantee that whatever is taught will faithfully express his mind and his will. "Go and make disciples of all nations..., teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always" (Mt 28:18-20). "Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven" (Mt 18:18). "He who hears you hears me, and he who rejects you rejects me" (Lk 10:16). "When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth" (Jn 16:13).
Scope, nature, origins of infallibility. Infallibility is not to be confused with the charism of inspiration, nor is it to be considered a source of new Revelations. There are no new revelations, and one should not expect any. What matters is to "hold fast what you have, until I come" (Rev 2:25); to "guard what has been entrusted to you" (1 Tim 6:20).
"The infallibility which which the divine redeemer wished to endow his Church in defining doctrine pertaining to faith and morals, is co-extensive with the deposit of revelation" (LG 25; cf. CCC, 2035).
The Church lives with the life of Christ. Her teaching expresses his Mind, constantly clarifying itself to us through the ages. Infallibility therefore is a possession and prerogative of the entire Church. Our Lord's words, "Go, teach; I am with you always", apply to the whole body of the faithful, united in belief down the ages. But the guarantee contained in these words has been more particularly given to the Magisterium - the teaching office exercised by the bishops and the Pope. "It is the Magisterium's task to preserve God's people from deviation and defection and to guarantee them the objective possibility of professing the true faith without error... To fulfil this service, Christ endowed the Church's shepherds with the charism of infallibility in matters of faith and morals" (CCC 890).
Further, if doubt or disagreement were to arise on some point, the saving doctrine of Jesus Christ always has the Roman Pontiff as its ultimate guardian and spokesman. The promise of Mt 28:18-20, "Go and make disciples of all nations... I am with you always, to the close of the age", has to be seen in the light of the earlier guarantee addressed to all the Apostles: "whatever you [plural] bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you [plural] loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven" (Mt 18:18), and this latter promise made to the whole apostolic college has in turn to be understood in the light of the prior commission made to Peter alone: "You are Peter and on this rock I will build my church; ... and whatever you [singular] bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you [singular] loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven" (Mt 16:18-19).
So the Second Vatican Council teaches: "The Roman Pontiff, head of the college of bishops, enjoys this infallibility in virtue of his office... For this reason his definitions are rightly said to be irreformable by their very nature and not by reason of the assent of the Church, inasmuch as they were made with the assistance of the Holy Spirit promised to him in the person of blessed Peter himself" (LG 25).
Papal infallibility and that of the whole college of bishops (whether assembled in an Ecumenical Council or not) are correlated but not identical. In given conditions, the Pope is infallible apart from and independently of his fellow bishops. But the College of Bishops too, when united in faith along with the Roman Pontiff, also teaches infallibly. "The infallibility promised to the Church is also present in the body of bishops when, together with Peter's successor, they exercise the supreme teaching office" (ib.), either in the solemn declarations of Ecumenical Councils, or in and through their ordinary and universal magisterium.
The charism of infallibility enables us to hear the Voice of Christ, speaking through those whom he has appointed. It is a main expression of God's mercy: to have communicated his Truth to us and to ensure that, if we want to find it, it can be found in fullness, without adulteration. It cannot ever be perverted by the Magisterium; and it will not be lost by those who listen to Christ teaching in his Church.
We should distinguish between infallibility in belief and infallibility in teaching. Infallibility in teaching pertains to the Magisterium alone, given the conditions indicated above. Infallibility in belief pertains to the whole Church. "The whole body of the faithful... cannot err in matters of belief. This characteristic is shown in the supernatural appreciation of the faith (sensus fidei) 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" (LG 12).
"By a 'supernatural sense of faith' the People of God, under the guidance of the Church's living Magisterium, 'unfailingly adheres to this faith' (LG 12)" (CCC 889). To understand properly how the whole People of God is infallible in its "sense of the faith" ("sensus fidei"; "sensus fidelium"), it must be borne in mind that the "Body of the faithful" is a concept - a reality - that goes beyond limits both of place and (especially) of time. The Faithful or the People of God always include those of past generations, as well as those of the present moment. The former are in fact the vast majority, and it is easier to ascertain what they believed. It is that belief which marks the "sensus fidelium" and points infallibly to the truth. This should be borne in mind in evaluating opinion polls about what people in the Church currently "believe" (remembering also that insofar as opinion polls are trustworthy, they reflect more what people do, or even what they would like the Church to teach, than what they really believe in their hearts to be the will of Christ; the norm in the Church is not what people do or prefer, but what God wants: that alone is the standard for the Christian). It is the one faith professed by the People of God over the centuries that is infallible; and in that faith we are called to commune. The "faith of our fathers" is never outdated for a Catholic. It is a sure reference point, linking us to the teaching of Jesus "that comes down to us from the Apostles" (Eucharistic Prayer One).
Attitude to the charism of infallibility. Some persons accuse the Church of being proud in her claim to infallibility. But her claim is not proud; it is simply an acknowledgment of the greatness of what God has done in and through her. The danger of pride arises rather on the part of the person who wants to follow Christ, but refuses to admit any infallible organ of teaching instituted by him. That person is either content to be uncertain about everything (peculiarly, this choice of uncertainty can also be an attitude of pride; the skeptic is usually a proud person), or else is endowing his or her own mind with the infallibility he denies to the Church, claiming that his interpretation of Scripture, his reading of the Mind of Christ is the correct one.
Acceptance of the Church's infallibility is a key test of our faith in God's providence; in this divine way of ensuring that we always have access to the message of salvation. With faith in the charismatic gift of infallibility, the Church maintains the forceful awareness of being the protected bearer of truth, while her members have the joyful certainty of hearing the voice of Christ in the sure teaching of his Church, as she indicates to them them the way to heaven.