“Infallibility does not mean that a pope is incapable of sin. All popes are human and therefore sinners.”
“Infallibility does not mean that the pope is inspired. Papal infallibility does not involve any special revelation from God. A pope learns about his faith in the same way that anyone else does—he studies.”
Except if you are Pope Alexander VI, then you can just get it through purchase at regular market cost.
“Infallibility cannot be used to change existing doctrines or proclaim new ones. It can only be used to confirm or clarify what has always been taught. The teachings of Christ cannot change. As the Scripture says, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever” (Hebrews 13:8)”
The dogma of the Immaculate Conception and the Assumption of Mary are quite recent, and they are “new” dogmas that were proclaimed. They were never historically taught before. The Pope had a vision from Mary herself, also discussing the Brown Scapular as a ticket out of purgatory, provided you wear it, practice chastity, and pray the Rosary. Purgatory is another new doctrine. So is infant baptism, when the Biblical practice was baptism of a believer who was fully immersed.
The other doctrine, of course, is the one being discussed. Infallibility. The Apostles were all gifted with help of the Holy Spirit, and saw Christ Himself and in visions the doctrines of which they were to preach. Peter was not “infallible,” but was even rebuked by Paul for his mistake in following the lead of the Jewish converts who insisted on following the Jewish ritual law.
Paul, through the power of the Holy Spirit, was used as God’s messenger to blind a magician. Each of the Apostles “bound whom they will,” or received prophecy, or received divine knowledge of the hearts of others, and spoke as God directed, and led the early Christian Churches they established across the world according to God’s plan.
The “Rock” of the Church is not Peter, but the confession he gave, which is Christ. Christ is the chief cornerstone, and we are all “living” stones of that chief stone. Here are Peter’s words on the true meaning of Christ’s teachings, given by Peter as only Peter could, as it was Peter who was made a living example of Christ’s teachings:
1 Peter 2
Wherefore laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings,
2As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby:
3If so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious.
4To whom coming, as unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God, and precious,
5Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.
6Wherefore also it is contained in the scripture, Behold, I lay in Sion a chief corner stone, elect, precious: and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded.
7Unto you therefore which believe he is precious: but unto them which be disobedient, the stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made the head of the corner,
8And a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence, even to them which stumble at the word, being disobedient: whereunto also they were appointed.
9But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light;
10Which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.
According to the Dictatus Papae, the Pope is supreme. He can command princes. He can bring down emperors. The Pope cannot even be judged!: http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/g7-dictpap.asp
The modern view is the moderate view. It is not the historical view. It is definitely not the Biblical view.
A lot of people confuse impeccability (lack of sin) with infalibility. They are not the same.
Popes go to confession too.
You wrote:
“The “Rock” of the Church is not Peter, but the confession he gave, which is Christ.”
Nope. According to Greek syntax it is Peter.
They were always a part of authentic Christian faith, that were not expressed formally.
A feast of the Conception of the Most Holy and All Pure Mother of God was celebrated in Syria on 9 December perhaps as early as the 5th century. Note that the title of achrantos (spotless, immaculate, all-pure) refers to the holiness of Mary, not specifically to the holiness of her conception. By the 7th century the feast of her conception was widely celebrated in the East, under the name of the Conception (active) of Saint Anne. In the West it was known as the feast of the Conception (passive) of Mary, and was associated particularly with the Normans, whether these introduced it directly from the East or took it from English usage. The spread of the feast, by now with the adjective "Immaculate" attached to its title, met opposition on the part of some, on the grounds that sanctification was possible only after conception.Wiki (links at source)
Although the Assumption (Latin: assūmptiō, "taken up") was only relatively recently defined as infallible dogma by the Catholic Church, and in spite of a statement by Saint Epiphanius of Salamis in AD 377 that no one knew whether Mary had died or not, apocryphal accounts of the assumption of Mary into heaven have circulated since at least the 4th century. The Catholic Church itself interprets chapter 12 of the Book of Revelation as referring to it. The earliest known narrative is the so-called Liber Requiei Mariae (The Book of Mary's Repose), which survives intact only in an Ethiopic translation. Probably composed by the 4th century, this Christian apocryphal narrative may be as early as the 3rd century. Also quite early are the very different traditions of the "Six Books" Dormition narratives. The earliest versions of this apocryphon are preserved by several Syriac manuscripts of the 5th and 6th centuries, although the text itself probably belongs to the 4th century. Later apocrypha based on these earlier texts include the De Obitu S. Dominae, attributed to St. John, a work probably from around the turn of the 6th century that is a summary of the "Six Books" narrative. The story also appears in De Transitu Virginis, a late 5th century work ascribed to St. Melito of Sardis that presents a theologically redacted summary of the traditions in the Liber Requiei Mariae. The Transitus Mariae tells the story of the apostles being transported by white clouds to the deathbed of Mary, each from the town where he was preaching at the hour. The Decretum Gelasianum in the 490s declared some transitus Mariae literature apocryphal.
St Thomas receiving the Virgin Mary's girdle An Armenian letter attributed to Dionysus the Areopagite also mentions the event, although this is a much later work, written sometime after the 6th century. John of Damascus, from this period, is the first church authority to advocate the doctrine under his own name...
Wiki (links at source)
the Pope is supreme. He can command princes. He can bring down emperors. The Pope cannot even be judged!
I surely hope so. But that is not in the meaning of infallible.
@Apollo - Only just took a short break, so a longer answer will have to wait, but two quick points:
But yet the Pope is called “Holy Father.”
All priests are called Father, as they are responsible for the welfare of their flock in the same manner that a father is responsible for his family. The more usual title for the Pope is His Holiness.
The Pope cannot even be judged!
God judges us all. Popes confess too, forcing them to confront their failings, at least in their own minds. Someone once said, in a joking way, that God had to send us his Son as the way, since Heaven was still empty and Hell was getting full.
Thanks for the link the last time we talked. Some good stuff in there to ponder on. FReegards!