The idea of papal infallibility has both baffled and amused Protestants at least since the First Vatican Council formally adopted the idea nearly 150 years ago (though the notion existed informally ...

Since the First Vatican Council of 1870, it has been a dogma of the Roman Catholic Church that the Pope, when he speaks ex cathedra on matters of faith or morals, is infallible. In the most ...

COMMENTARY: As the Catholic Church marks the 150th anniversary of Pastor Aeternus, it is an occasion for us to be grateful for the gift of the teaching authority of the Church, especially that of the ...

Editor's note: Fr. Hans Küng, the Swiss theologian, says that he has received a letter from Pope Francis that responds "to my request to give room to a free discussion on the dogma of infallibility." ...

Can there be infallibility in political and social discourse or in matters relating to social or political organisation? That various political ideas and systems have evolved is proof that none has ...

Patricia Miller’s recent RD posts critiquing the “Francis Effect” and characterizing the pope as “more like a mascot than a leader” got me thinking about how Mormons see their prophets. There’s an old ...

A good illustration of how papal infallibility actually works is in the comparatively recent definition of the assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. There’s a scene in Brideshead Revisited in which ...

It started as a conversation, turned into a debate and somehow became a debate to decide which one of you is absolutely right about everything and which one of you is a fool, discredited on every ...