Fiction: In claiming the Pope is infallible, the Catholic Church believes him to be all-knowing, all-powerful and unable to commit sin.Fact: The Catholic Church believes nothing of the sort. The attribute of being all-knowing is Omniscience, the attribute of being all-powerful is Omnipotence and the attribute of being unable to sin is Incorruptibility.
God alone has these attributes.
In fact, Infallibility is not a power given to the Pope, it is a restraint placed upon him. It is absolutely Biblical and the Scriptures could not have survived intact without it.
Infallibility simply holds that the Pope cannot bind his flock in errant doctrine. It is the promise made to to Peter in Matthew 16:18 and 18:18. "What you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, what you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven"
This doctrine is ratified in Luke 10:16 "He who hears you, hears me. He who rejects you, rejects me. He who rejects me, rejects Him who sent me"
Opponents of the doctrine of infallibility presuppose that it implies that no scumbags could possibly enter the church and rise to it's highest levels. These people are missing the whole point. That, at some point, evil people would infiltrate the Catholic church was not only possible, it was a sure thing. Why? Because the church is run by human beings.
All Infallibility implies is that even though a Pope, at some point, might be a truly evil man (we have had maybe 5 or six of them), he cannot bind the flock with his evil. That God can act through evil men is something proven many times in scripture.
Remember that Jesus' own betrayer was one His own hand picked disciples.
After reading this, some will still not be convinced of the truth of this doctrine. That's fine. Just agree or disagree on what the doctrine truly is and not what you may have been mistakenly told.
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