Bible Study topic #2: Infallibility

The Catholic doctrine of papal infallibility was pronounced in July 1870 during the First Vatican Council, chaired by Pope Pius IX. Not all members of the council readily accepted this dogma, but this concept was accepted by council majority.
The idea is that the pope is infallible, that is, he is unable to commit an error when teaching revealed truth, regarding faith and morals,’ex cathedra’, in his position as the head of the RCC. This dogma is predated to the times of the apostle Peter although there was no precedent of the idea. It has no direct scriptural proofs although the following passages are presented in defense of the doctrine. Visit Catholic Encyclopaedia

• Matthew 28:18-20;
• Matthew 16:18;
• John 14, 15, and 16;
• Timothy 3:14-15; and
• Acts 15:28 sq.

The Catholic Encyclopaedia states that Papal infallibility is independent of the character of the Pope! Thus even the previous Popes with unsavory character are infallible.

My aim here is to publish some assertions, from other sources, but let the reader be the judge of the truthfulness, assisted by the Lord to guide him or her.

Let us look at the historical record.

Are these popes infallible?

I first read the following teci’s blog
It reads like a “sensational” magazine entries,
but I challenge the reader to look it up in the Internet since the knowledge is not locked up in some libraries of banned books, complemented by readings of the actual documents or books. I also suggest to them that they may rewrite it in their own way
and post it on the Internet.

You may view the original source Mary Ann Collins, October 2002. who was a former nun. The source also contains notes to help you find the pertinent sources.

• Pope Honorius reigned from 625 to 638 A.D. He was condemned as a heretic by the Sixth Ecumenical Council (680-681). He was also condemned as a heretic by Pope Leo II, as well as by every other pope until the eleventh century.
• In 769, Pope Stephen IV came to power with the help of an army which conquered the previous Pope. Stephen gave orders for his papal rival to be flogged, have his eyes cut out, have his kneecaps broken, and be imprisoned until he died. Then Pope Stephen sentenced a second man to die a slow, agonizing death. He had pieces of his body cut off every day until he finally died.
• Pope Leo V only reigned for one month (July 903). Cardinal Christopher put Leo in prison and became Pope. Then Christopher was put in prison by Cardinal Sergius. Sergius killed Leo and Christopher while they were in prison. He also killed every cardinal who had opposed him.
• Pope John XII reigned from 955 to 964. He was a violent man. He was so lustful that people of his day said that he turned the Lateran Palace into a brothel. He drank toasts to the devil. When gambling he invoked pagan gods and goddesses. He was killed by a jealous husband while in the act of committing adultery with the man’s wife.
• In the tenth century, a wealthy Italian noblewoman named Marozia put nine popes into office in eight years. In order to do that, she also had to get rid of reigning popes. Two of them were strangled, one was suffocated, and four disappeared under mysterious circumstances. One of the popes was Marozia’s son; he was fathered by a Pope.
• In 1003, Pope Silvester II was murdered by his successor, Pope John XVII. Seven months later, John was poisoned.
• Pope Benedict VIII reigned from 1012 to 1024. He kept a private force of “pope’s men” who were known for torture, maimings, and murder. The Pope personally ordered many assassinations. He enjoyed cutting the tongues out of living men and he had a reputation for blood lust.
• When Benedict VIII died, his brother seized power and became Pope John XIX. He had himself ordained a priest, consecrated as a bishop, and crowned as pope, all in the same day. John died under suspicious circumstances.
• Pope Benedict IX reigned from 1032 to 1044, in 1045, and from 1047 to 1048. He became Pope through bribery. He had sex with men, women and animals. He gave orders for people to be murdered. He also practiced witchcraft and Satanism. The citizens of Rome hated Benedict so much that on two occasions he had to flee from Rome. Benedict sold the papacy to Pope Gregory VI. As part of the deal, he continued to live in the Lateran Palace, with a generous income. Benedict filled the Lateran Palace with prostitutes.
• In 1298, Pope Boniface ordered that every man, woman, child and animal in the Italian town of Palestrina be slaughtered. He was known for torture, massacre, and ferocity.
• Pope Clement VI reigned from 1342 to 1352. He ordered the slaughter of an entire Italian town. He lived a life of luxury and extravagance. He openly admitted that he sold church offices and he used threats and bribery to gain power. Clement purchased a French palace which became known as a papal brothel.
• Pope Alexander VI reigned from 1492 to 1503. He was known for murder, bribery and selling positions of authority in the Church. He was grossly licentious. On one occasion he required 50 prostitutes to dance naked before him and to engage in sexual acts for his entertainment. He had cardinals killed so that he could confiscate their property and sell their positions to ambitious men. He died of poison after having dinner with a cardinal. It was rumored that the cardinal suspected that the Pope would try to poison him and he therefore switched wine goblets with the Pope.
• Pope Julius II reigned from 1503 to 1513. He became Pope through bribery. He was extremely ruthless and violent. He had a reputation for lust, drunknness, rages, deception, and nepotism.
• Pope Leo X reigned from 1513 to 1521. He put a statue of himself in Rome’s Capitol to be saluted by the public. He had statues of Greek gods and goddesses put in Rome.
• Pope Gregory VII reigned from 1073 to 1085. He required kings and emperors to kiss his foot. Gregory and his successors used forged documents in order to expand the power of the papacy. Some Roman Catholics tried to expose these forgeries but they were excommunicated for it. However, the Orthodox Church kept records and wrote detailed information about the forgeries. (For more information about this, see my article “Forged Documents and Papal Power”.)
• Simony was rampant among clerics. It was commonplace for priests to pay money in order to become bishops and abbots. Pope Gregory VII said that he knew of more than 40 men who became Pope by means of bribery.
• Pope Innocent III reigned from 1198 to 1216. He said that the Pope is the ruler of the world and the father of princes and kings. He claimed that every priest and bishop must obey the Pope even if the Pope commands something evil. Pope Innocent wanted to get rid of the Albigensian heretics who lived in France. He forced the King of France to kill hundreds of thousands of French citizens. The Albigensians lived mingled among the French Catholics. Pope Innocent commanded that every person in the region, including the Catholics, be killed. This was called the Albigensian Crusade, or the Albigensian Massacre. The Pope gave the Albigensian Crusaders a special indulgence which was supposed to guarantee that if they died in battle then their sins would be remitted and they would go to Heaven.

The following supposed proofs to the contrary is from Paul Tobin’s page

Proofs of Papal Fallibility ?

1. Pope Liberius and the Arian Controversy, a matter of Faith!

Pope Liberius sat as pope from the years 352 to 366.He was exiled by the Emperor Constantinus
for refusing to condemn Athanasius for the Nicene orthodoxy.He was only allowed to go back after he accepted espoused an alternative creed to the Nicene Creed: God the Son is
lower that God the Father.Liberius reverted back to the Nicene Cred after the death of the Roman emperor.

2. Pope Virgillus (Pope 537-555),

Pope Vigilius and the Three Chapters Controversy.
The Three Chapters referred to writings on the dual nature of Jesus(as God and man). This concept was NOT judged heretical by the Council of Chalcedon in the year 451. Emperor Justinian(483-565) condemmed this idea and wanted Vigilius to endorse\
his condemnation. Vigilius gave in with reluctance and approved this edict by the Emperor.

This act was not accepted by a synod of Arican bishops. In fact the synod excommunicated him for his condemnation.
To please them, Vigilius withdrew his condemnation. Unfortunately, this was not welcomed by the emperor.
Vigilius reasoned to the emperor that he was misled by the devil in withdrawing his condemnation. This action gained favor with the emperor and he was allowed to return to Rome to reclaim his office.

3. Pope Honorius (625-638)and Monothelitism

Honorius I agreed with the bishop of Constantinople that Jesus had only one will. This doctrine, called monothelitism was later declared heretical by the Council of Constantinople in the year 681. Here then, is a case where a pope made a pronouncement on a matter of faith (concerning the nature of Jesus) which was subsequently condemned as heretical.

The Hans Kung 1970 case.

Hans Kung was a brilliant Catholic theologian who wrote a book disproving the doctrine of papal infallibility on biblical and historical evidence.Although he was not excommunicated, the late John Paul II declared in 1979 that Kung was no longer qualified to teach Church doctrine and was sacked as the head of Department of Theology at the University of Tubingen and was forbidden to write and publish again.

It is said that honest christians will be stronger in their faith for Jesus if they can face the truth well.

This entry was posted on Monday, June 15th, 2009 at 3:59 pm and is filed under Bible study, Religion. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.