
What does papal infallibility refer to?
01Dec 2020
Question: [caption id="attachment_5428" align="alignright" width="214"] Pope Pius IX dogmatically defined the doctrine of papal infallibility during the First Vatican Council.[/caption] Is everything a pope says infallible? Answer: This is a great and timely question, in light of the documentary that was released about Pope Francis in October. That documentary included clips from a news interview that the Holy Father had given in 2019 on the topic of civil unions for same-sex couples. Much of the coverage of the Holy Father’s remarks, particularly in secular media, indicated that Pope Francis had changed the Church’s teaching. This column won’t be getting into the details of questions about what he meant or why the Church teaches what she does about marriage (make sure and check out the online resources in the link below…