The 2014 Synod and Vatican I : Infallibility not Unlimited & Arbitrary Power
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source Catholic Family News
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The 2014 Synod and Vatican I
by Roberto de Mattei
Corrispondenza Romana
November 5, 2014
The historical phase that has opened after the Synod of 2014 demands, on the part of Catholics, not only the willingness to debate and fight, but also an attitude of careful reflection and study on the new problems which are up for discussion. The first of these problems is the relationship of the faithful with a [Church] authority which appears to be failing in its duty. Cardinal Burke in an interview to “Vida Nueva” on the 30th of October stated that: “there is a strong sense that the Church is like a ship without a rudder”. It’s a powerful image but it perfectly corresponds to the general picture.
The path to take in this confusing situation is certainly not that of taking the place of the Pope and bishops in the governing of the Church, whose supreme helmsman in any case is Jesus Christ. Indeed the Church is not a democratic assembly, but a monarchical and hierarchical one, divinely established on the institution of the Papacy, which symbolizes the irreplaceable stone. The progressivist dream of “republicanizing” the Church and transforming Her into a permanent synodal state is destined to infringe upon the constitution Pastor Aeternus of Vatican I which defined not only the dogma of infallibility, but primarily the full and immediate power of the Pope over all the bishops and the entire Church.
In the discussions of Vatican I, the anti-infallibility minority, echoing the concliarist and Gallican theses, affirmed that the authority of the Pope did not reside only in the Pontiff, but in the Pope being united to the bishops. A small group of Council Fathers asked Pius IX to affirm in the dogmatic text, that the Pontiff is infallible with the testimony of the Churches (“nixus testimonio Ecclesiarum”), but the Pope revised the schema in the opposite sense, making an addition to the formula “ideoque eiusmodi Romani Pontificis definitionis esse ex se irreformabilis” the clause “non autem ex consensu Ecclsiae” (These definitions by the Roman Pontiff are thus unreformable per se, and not with the consensus of the Church), to clarify definitively, that the assent of the Church did absolutely not constitute the condition of infallibility. On the 18th July before an immense multitude crowded in the Basilica, the final text of the apostolic constitution Pastor aeternus was approved with 525 votes in favour and 2 against. Fifty five members of the opposition abstained. Immediately after the vote, Pius IX, solemnly promulgated the Apostolic Constitution Pastor aeternus as a law of faith.
Pastor Aeternus establishes that the primacy of the Pope consists in true and supreme power of jurisdiction, independent of any other power, over all the Pastors and over the entire flock of the faithful. He possesses this supreme power not by delegation on the part of the bishops nor the entire Church, but in virtue of Divine right. The foundation of pontifical sovereignty does not consist in the charisma of infallibility, but in the apostolic primacy that the Pope possesses over the universal Church as successor of Peter and Prince of the Apostles. The Pope is not infallible when he exercises his ruling power: the disciplinary laws of the Church, differently from those of Divine or natural [origin], can indeed change. Yet, it is of Divine faith, and thus guaranteed by the chrism of infallibility, the monarchal constitution of the Church, which entrusts the fullness of authority to the Roman Pontiff. This jurisdiction includes, besides the power of government, that of the Magisterium.
The constitution, Pastor Aeternus, establishes with clarity the conditions of pontifical infallibility. These conditions were amply illustrated in the intervention of the 11th of July 1870 by Monsignor Vicenzo Gasser, Bishop of Bressanone and official speaker of the Deputation of the Faith. In the first place, Monsignor Gasser specified that the Pope is not infallible as a private person, but as a “public person”. Furthermore, as a “public person” it must be intended that the Pope is fulfilling his office, speaking ex-cathedra as Doctor and Universal Pastor; in the second place, the Pontiff, must express himself in matters of faith or morals, res fidei vel morum. Finally he must pronounce a definitive judgment on the objective matter of his intervention. The nature of the act, which involves the infallibility of the Pope must be expressed by the word “define” which has as a correlative the formula ex-cathedra.
The infallibility of the Pope does not mean in any way that he enjoys unlimited and arbitrary power in matters of government and teaching. The dogma of infallibility, while it defines a supreme privilege, is fixed in precise boundaries, allowing for infidelity, error and betrayal. Otherwise in the prayers for the Supreme Pontiff there would be no need to pray “ut non tradat eum in animam inimicorum eius”. If it were impossible for the Pope to cross to the enemy camp it wouldn’t be necessary to pray for it not to happen. However, the betrayal of Peter is the example of possible infidelity which has loomed over all of the Popes through the course of history, and will be so until the end of time. The Pope, even if he is the supreme authority on earth, is suspended between the summits of heroic fidelity to his mandate and the abyss of apostasy which is always present.
remainder here: www.cfnews.org/…/518b5c8e2710b1c…