The Church enjoys the gift of infallibility through the exercise of both her extraordinary and ordinary magisterium (teaching authority).

 

• The extraordinary magisterium is exercised by (a) the pope when teaching ex cathedra ("from the chair") of Peter, that is, in his capacity as the successor of Peter and Head of the Church, or (b) the ecumenical councils when teaching in unity with the pope. In this capacity, the pope or the ecumenical councils may make solemn and extraordinary teachings on matters affecting faith or morals that are infallible and binding on all Catholics.

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• The ordinary magisterium is exercised by the pope, the local councils, and the individual bishops, priests, and deacons when, in the course of preaching in the name of the Church, they reiterate the constant and universal teachings of the Church. The teaching activity of these ministers comprises the ordinary teaching magisterium of the Church, and, to that extent, they also enjoy the gift of infallibility. However, note that these ministers teach infallibly, not when they teach just anything, but only when they teach what the Church herself has consistently and universally taught and do not deviate from it.

 

Therefore, the scholars (including the Fathers and Doctors of the Church), historians, philosophers, and theologians who write or teach on doctrinal and moral matters and who seek, according to their diligent research, the consequences and implications of theological data are not necessarily regarded as infallible interpreters of Christian revelation. As researchers and scholars, their conclusions and novel teachings are subject to the judgment of the Church. However, if these scholars are ordained bishops, priests, or deacons, they can and usually do preach infallibly in the name of the Church when they teach the Church's constant and universal teaching rather than their own novel doctrines.

 

Likewise, the pope also speaks infallibly when exercising the Church's ordinary magisterium. It is incorrect to think that the pope speaks infallibly only when he invokes the Holy Spirit and speaks ex cathedra. That is not true. Like any bishop, priest, or deacon, the pope has the gift of infallibility when exercising the Church's ordinary magisterium, that is, when he explains, clarifies, or elucidates what the Church herself has consistently and universally taught. But the pope is not infallible whenever he merely expresses his everyday opinion on matters outside of faith and morals or on novel ideas not previously taught or held by the Church. Thus, his opinions on climate change and globalism are not necessarily protected by his gift of infallibility.

 

 

The Catholic Rule of Faith

 

Although Holy Scripture is the word of God, it is neither the sole source of revelation nor the ultimate authority in matters of faith and morals. To think this way is to commit the Protestant error of sola Scriptura (the Latin for “by the Scripture alone”). Many Protestants believe that the Bible alone is sufficient to serve as a rule of faith in all matters of faith and morals, and that it is the sole standard by which all teachings and teachers are judged, and that it is the ultimate authority and the sole source of revealed truth. Therefore, they reject religious doctrines, such as those that Catholics claim to derive from Sacred Tradition because these teachings were not fully written in the Holy Scripture.

 

Protestants base their belief on a passage from St. Paul that says: "All scripture, inspired by God, is profitable to teach, to reprove, to correct, to instruct in justice, that the man of God may be perfect, furnished to every good work" (2 Tim 3:16-17). Protestants argue that since Sacred Scripture is inspired by the Holy Spirit and can make a man of God equipped for every good work, the Bible alone (without the Church and without Tradition) can guide man toward salvation.

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Catholics accept 2 Tim 3:16: "All scripture, inspired by God, is profitable to teach, to reprove, to correct, to instruct in justice," but they do not agree with the Protestant reading of 2 Tim 3:17 as: "that the man of God (using the Bible alone and without assistance from the Church or Sacred Tradition) may be perfect, and furnished for every good work." Catholics believe that the cited verse should be read as follows: "that the man of God (using the Bible with the assistance of the Church and Sacred Tradition) may be perfect, and furnished for every good work."

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So, who is reading 2 Tim 3:17 correctly? Catholics assert that although the Bible helps prepare a man of God for every good work, it is not a sufficient rule of faith because the Bible needs interpretation, which the average person is not able to do properly. St. Peter himself says in the Epistles of St. Paul that there are "certain things hard to understand, which the unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, to their own destruction" (2 Pet 3:16). The average person needs the help of the Church in interpreting abstruse passages in Holy Scripture. On the contrary, Protestants believe in the Bible's alleged perspicuity, or the idea that the Bible is intelligible in and of itself and that anyone guided by the Holy Spirit can correctly interpret it. Here is where the Protestant encounters great difficulty. Because the so-called perspicuity of the Bible is contradicted by facts! If the Bible contains everything we need for salvation, and we can clearly understand it, then everyone (or at least a large majority) who reads the Bible should come to a common understanding of what Sacred Scripture teaches. But that is not the case. Protestants have many different interpretations of the Bible. For example, the Lutherans believe in the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist. Most Evangelicals, however, think that Christ’s presence in the Eucharist is merely figurative or symbolic. Lutherans believe in the practice of infant baptism, but the Baptists don’t. The Quakers, on the other hand, don’t think the issue is important because they think that baptism is merely an external expression of Christianity. If the Bible is truly perspicuous, then why are Protestants so divided in their faith? How can we explain the extreme variation in doctrines and practices in the various Protestant denominations? This lack of common interpretation or doctrinal unity in the various Protestant denominations results in an uneasy feeling of uncertainty, not only among the faithful but even among the pastors of each denomination. The pastor in one church is never sure that his interpretation of the Bible is the true interpretation and that what he is teaching his congregation is the same thing that another pastor, just 10 miles away, is teaching.