[impimp]

A pope is only infallible when he says he is infallible. This pope hasn’t said he was infallible. Most popes do nothing infallible. Signing off on Vatican II was infallible in the 1960s. Declaring the assumption of Mary in the 1950s was infallible.

So get some perspective on things the pope says. They are NOT infallible pronouncements.

[HiTech RedNeck]

One would think that a pope ought to be aware of this if applicable, and couch everything that wasn’t intended to be infallible as an “I think” or “I believe” statement.

The problem would come when the pope tries to play both sides against the middle, so to speak.

[Campion]

A pope is only infallible when he says he is infallible.

That isn't quite true. Vatican Council I set down 4 conditions for an infallible Papal teaching:

• The Pope must be speaking in his supreme authority as Pope, not as a private teacher, as Bishop of Rome, etc.
• He must be speaking to the whole church. An interview with a journalist flunks this test, as does a decree disciplining a particular individual.
• He must be attempting to teach definitively, as something Catholics are required to believe under pain of heresy
• And he must be teaching a doctrine concerning faith or morals. Musings concerning, e.g., science or baseball don't count.