"A good friend of mine asked me how a pope can be infallible and yet do terrible things...."

Mr. Jim Blackburn is ready for this one!



In the magazine This Rock, May / June 2010.


Question:


"A good friend of mine asked me how a pope can be infallible and yet do terrible things. If the Church takes back decisions a pope has made, how can that pope have been infallible?"


Jim's answer:


"Your friend suffers from a common misunderstanding about the Church's teaching on infallibility. Papal infallibility is not a guarantee that popes will not make mistakes or even that they will not sin. It is simply a gift of the Holy Spirit whereby popes cannot err when definitively proclaiming doctrine on matters of faith and morals."

-- Jim Blackburn --