-
The Reproach of Christ now features guest posts by: Francisco Figueroa
Pope Francis is Our Holy Father, Supreme Head of the whole Church, Father and Teacher of all Christians, and Supreme Pontiff.
Papal critics: “Let us explain to you why Pope Francis is wrong.”
Ron Conte: “Let me explain to you what the word ‘faith’ means.”Those who reject the Magisterium, grasp at straws seeking its replacement.
-
The CPDV -- my conservative Catholic translation of the Bible, from the Latin Vulgate into English, is available at Amazon.com in Kindle format and online here.
-
To read the Kindle versions of my books, without a Kindle device, get the free cloud reader — or — any of the free Kindle reading apps.
Subscribe to my RSS Feed. (If you use Google Chrome, first add a Chrome RSS reader or extension.)
+ Important Posts
- A Primer on Roman Catholic Salvation Theology
- How To Go To Heaven
- Intrinsic Evil and the Moral Object
- Profession of Fidelity to Pope Francis
- St. Bellarmine, his works in Latin
- The Certainty of Salvation for Prenatals who die before birth
- The Many Errors of Religious Fundamentalism
- What Saint Bellarmine really said about Popes and Heresy
+ Salvation
Biblical Topics
Catholic Theology
Eschatology
- First Part of the Tribulation
- Great Catholic Monarch and the Angelic Shepherd
- Kingdom of the Ten Kings
- On World War 3 and World War 4
- Second Part of the Tribulation
- Secrets of La Salette and the End Times
- Secrets of Medjugorje and Garabandal
- The Bible and the Future: 2015 edition
- The Return of Jesus Christ
- The Warning, Consolation, and Miracle
- Three Days of Darkness and the Time of Peace
Free Booklets
Mariology
Moral Theology
Other Topics
Some Links
Versions of the Bible
Categories
Archives
Meta
Add this badge to your site:
-
If the works of God seem foolish to you, who is the fool — God or you?
Teaching New Doctrines
Dr. Ed Peters is teaching a new non-infallible doctrine, never before asserted by anyone, that Popes cannot teach new non-infallible doctrines, never before asserted by anyone. This implies that Peters has greater teaching authority than the See of Peter. Is this irony or insanity?
First, he acknowledges that a Pope can teach a new doctrine, never before taught by any Pope or Bishop, under Papal Infallibility. This doctrine would have to be implicit in Tradition or Scripture, as anything truly new would not be of the Deposit of Faith. Fine. There is nothing wrong with that assertion. Typically, a teaching under Papal Infallibility will have been taught non-infallibly first, but not necessarily. Each Pope has the full authority given to Peter by Christ, which is Christ’s own teaching authority.
Second, Dr. Peters claims that no Pope can do the same, teach a new doctrine never before taught by any Pope or Bishop, when the doctrine is non-infallible, rather than infallible. Infallible doctrines cannot err at all; non-infallible doctrines have a limited possibility of error. This claim deprives every Pope of his direct and immediate authority over each and all the faithful, to teach and to rule (doctrine and discipline) by primacy of jurisdiction.
Direct and immediate authority means that the Pope does not rule over the faithful by intermediaries, such that we would be taught by the Bishops and priests of our diocese, and the Pope would only teach us through them. When a Pope teaches, the faithful are required to believe him without the necessity for any intermediary authorities to agree. That is what makes his authority direct and immediate.
By saying that Popes cannot teach non-infallibly, except when other Bishops teach the same, Peters deprives every Pope of his authority over the faithful. It is as if Peter cannot teach the faithful, unless other Apostles are standing by his side, agreeing. Peter teaches. The faithful shrug their shoulders. “Should we believe that?” Then they only accept the teaching if other Apostles agree. This ridiculous claim subjugates the successors of Peter beneath the other Bishops, since he cannot teach under his most common teaching authority by himself. He has to go begging to the other Bishops, hoping they will deign to teach the same.
The irony here is that no one has ever taught this idea, that Dr. Peters asserts as a truth which restrains the teaching authority of every Pope. So Peters is doing what he claims the Pope cannot do, teach a new doctrine without any agreement from any Bishops. He even admits that Canon law disagrees with this idea, and does give the Pope the ability to teach any doctrine by his own authority. He is a canon lawyer, rejecting what canon law says, and doing what he claims not even the Pope can do, teach a novel doctrine, non-infallibly, without the agreement of others.
This is the arrogance of the present-day conservative Catholic subculture. Conservatives think they can assert any idea, even completely novel claims, and they think these ideas should be treated like doctrines — even doctrines that bind the Pope. But they will not submit to the authority of the Pope himself. As much as possible, they seek to contradict and undermine his teachings, decisions, and authority.
Pride goeth before a schism.
by
Ronald L. Conte Jr.
Roman Catholic theologian and translator of the Catholic Public Domain Version of the Bible.
Please take a look at this list of my books and booklets, and see if any topic interests you.
Related