Phil Sanders
In the days of Jeremiah, presumptuous men arose and claimed to speak for God. Jeremiah said, “Thus says the Lord of hosts, ‘Do not listen to the words of the prophets who are prophesying to you. They are leading you into futility; they speak a vision of their own imagination, not from the mouth of the Lord’” (Jeremiah 23:16, All quotations from the New American Standard Bible, unless otherwise noted).
The desire to speak for God is still tempting, and some men thinking they have this gift deceive themselves (23:26). The Lord said, “I did not send these prophets, but they ran. I did not speak to them, but they prophesied” (23:21). Tragically, they told the people what they wanted to hear and claimed, “The Lord declares.” Claiming to speak from God and truly speaking from God are two different things.
In 1870 the Vatican council proclaimed,
We teach and define that it is a dogma Divinely revealed that the Roman pontiff when he speaks ex cathedra, that is when in discharge of the office of pastor and doctor of all Christians, by virtue of his supreme Apostolic authority, he defines a doctrine regarding faith or morals to be held by the universal Church, by the Divine assistance promised to him in Blessed Peter, is possessed of that infallibility with which the Divine Redeemer willed that his Church should be endowed in defining doctrine regarding faith or morals, and that therefore such definitions of the Roman pontiff are of themselves and not from the consent of the Church irreformable (Session IV, Const. de Ecclesiâ Christi, c. iv).
The belief is that God supernaturally protects popes from making errors. This infallibility applies to all Roman Catholic popes and church councils: past, present, and future (Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraph 891). What this means is that the ex cathedra statements of all the church councils and all the popes must agree with one another. Further, the papacy depends upon a direct line of authority back to the apostle Peter, one bishop passing on the primacy to the next. If there is a break in the apostolic succession, then the papacy falls. If the popes are not infallible, the Roman Catholic Church has lost its unique leadership and apostolic authority.
Truth does not contradict truth. If indeed the ex cathedra pronouncements of popes and councils are infallible, they will never contradict other infallible pronouncements. If there is even one contradiction, then the doctrine of infallibility cannot be correct.
(Readers, I hesitate to give a title to any man which the Lord forbids. Since “pope” means “papa,” and since Matt. 23:8 forbids calling any man “father,” I will use their names with the understanding that Roman Catholics and others recognize them as popes.)
Zosimus (417-418) reversed the pronouncement of a previous pope and retracted a doctrinal pronouncement he had himself previously made. The Sixth Ecumenical Council (680-681) condemned Honorius as a heretic. Leo II also condemned Honorius. This means that “infallible” popes condemned other “infallible” popes as heretics.
In 495 Gelasius issued a decree which regarded the Assumption of Mary as heresy and its proponents as heretics. In the sixth century, Hormisdas also condemned this doctrine as heresy. These infallible popes declared a doctrine to be heresy; yet, on November 1, 1950, Pius XII the Roman Catholic Church officially declared the Assumption of Mary to be a dogma of their faith and required people to believe it without question. Pope Pius XII's definition regarding the Assumption of the Virgin Mary, has these words: "Hence if anyone, which God forbid, should dare willfully to deny or to call into doubt that which we have defined, let him know that he has fallen away completely from the divine and Catholic Faith.” One must wonder whether Gelasius and Hormisdas were infallible or whether Pius XII was infallible. Someone believes a heresy.
In 1864 Pius IX “infallibly” declared the idea of freedom of conscience and freedom of worship is “insanity,” “evil,” “depraved,” and “reprobate” (Syllabus of Errors, section 3).
He also declared that non-Catholics living in Catholic countries should not be allowed to publicly practice their religion. In 1888 Leo XIII “infallibly” declared that freedom of thought and freedom of worship are wrong (“On the Nature of Human Liberty,” paragraph 42). In spite of this, the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965) gave a “Declaration on Religious Liberty” that states all people have a right to freedom of religion.
Popes and councils through the ages have introduced many new teachings unknown to the Scriptures. Here are just a few:
· In 431 the Council of Ephesus taught the worship of Mary as the Mother of God.
· In 593 Gregory the Great declared the doctrine of purgatory, and in 1439 the Council of Florence declared it a dogma of the church.
· In 607 Boniface III declared himself the universal bishop and took the title Pope. (Gregory, who served as bishop of Rome before him was very much opposed to any universal bishop.)
· John XV decreed the canonization of dead saints, putting them into a special class. The Scriptures instead call all Christians saints (Rom. 1:7; I Cor. 1:2).
· In 1079 Hildebrand decreed priests and other clergymen were to be celibate. If Hildebrand is infallible in this decree, was Paul wrong when he said bishops must be husbands (I Tim. 3:2; Tit. 1:5-6)? Was Peter sinning when he traveled with his wife (I Cor. 9:5)?
· In 1184 the Council of Veronica decreed the inquisition and death of heretics.
· In 1215 Innocent III. in the Lateran Council decreed Confession of sin to the priest at least once a year. The Bible commands us to confess our sins directly to God and to one another (James 5:16; I Jn. 1:8-9).
· Innocent III decreed the dogma of Transubstantiation in 1215. By this doctrine the priest pretends to perform a daily miracle by changing a wafer into the body of Christ, and then he pretends to eat Him alive in the presence of his people during Mass.
· The Council of Trent in 1546 declared that the Apocryphal Books were to be included in the Bible, although neither Jesus nor the apostles recognized them as inspired.
· On March 5, 1616 a council of Cardinals called by Paul V warned Galileo against holding the heretical views of Nicholas Copernicus, who said the earth moves around the sun. If Paul V were inspired and infallible, he would know that what Galileo taught was true. Paul V was not alone in this; Urban (1633) and Alexander VII (1664) confirmed and republished Paul V’s decree against Copernicus.
Popes against Popes
Not all Catholics have assented to the infallibility of the pope. Adrian VI in 1523 said, "It is beyond question that he [the pope] can err even in matters touching the faith. He does this when he teaches heresy by his own judgment or decretal. In truth, many Roman Pontiffs were heretics." In 1324 John XXII condemned as heresy both the Franciscan way of life and Nicholas III's commendation of it. The Franciscans believed in papal infallibility and criticized John for his lavish lifestyle. To justify contradicting another pope, John produced his Bull Qui quorundam, a dogmatic assertion of doctrine made to the entire Church and thus infallible by today's rules. In it John XXII reviled the doctrine of papal infallibility as "the work of the devil."
Sergius III agreed with Stephen VII in pronouncing all ordinations by heretical popes invalid. In Cum ex Apostolatus officio, Paul VI declared "by the plenitude of papal power" that all of the acts of heretical popes were null and void. That infallible declaration leaves "apostolic succession" in ruins.
The Sixth Ecumenical council (678-87) condemned Honorius (625-38) as a heretic for believing in monthelitism, i.e., believing Jesus only had one will that was divine and not human. Leo II (682-683), publicly condemned Honorius I for undermining the faith of the Church. For centuries each new pope taking office was required to swear by an oath that Honorius had been a heretic and that the council had acted properly in condemning him.
Two people holding opposite opinions can't both be right. Yet popes have almost made a business of contradicting one another on key issues. Agapetus (535-536) burned the anathema which Boniface II (530-532) had solemnly issued against Dioscorus (530). The later is shown as an antipope, but Agapetus, who sided with him, is shown as a true pope.
Adrian II (867-872) said civil marriages were valid; Pius VII (1800-1823) declared them invalid. Both men are shown as legitimate popes.
Nicholas V (1447-1455) voided all of Eugenius IV's (1431-1447) "documents, processes, decrees, and censures against the Council [of Basle]... to be regarded as having never existed,” yet both remain on the official list of popes today.
On July 21, 1773, Clement XIV issued a decree suppressing the Jesuits, only to have it reversed by a decree restoring them, issued by Pius VII on August 7, 1814.
Eugenius IV condemned Joan of Arc (1412- 31) to be burned as a witch and heretic, but she was beatified by Pius X in 1909 and canonized by Benedict XV in 1920.
Bishop Joseph Georg Strossmayer gave a speech at the Vatican Council of 1870 opposing the doctrine of the infallibility of the pope.
Among many other damaging things, Strossmayer said,
"Well, venerable brethren, here history raises its voice to assure us that some popes have erred. You may protest against it or deny it, as you please, but I will prove it. Pope Victor (192) first approved of Montanism, and then condemned it. Marcellinus (296- 303) was an idolater. He entered into the temple of Vesta, and offered incense to the goddess. You will say that it was an act of weakness; but I answer, a vicar of Jesus Christ dies rather than become an apostate.
Liberius (358) consented to the condemnation of Athanasius, and made a profession of Arianism, that he might be recalled from his exile and reinstated in his see. Honorius (625) adhered to Monothelitism: Father Gratry has proved it to demonstration. Gregory I (590- 604) calls any one Antichrist who takes the name of Universal Bishop, and contrariwise Boniface III, (607,8) made the parricide Emperor Phocas confer that title upon him.
Paschal II (1099-1118) and Eugenius III (1145-53) authorized dueling; Julius II (1509) and Pius IV (1560) forbade it. Eugenius IV (1431-39) approved of the Council of Basle and the restitution of the chalice to the church of Bohemia; Pius II (1458) revoked the concession. Hadrian II (867-872) declared civil marriages to be valid; Pius VII (1800- 23) condemned them. Sixtus V (1585-90) published an edition of the Bible, and by a bull recommended it to be read; Pius VII condemned the reading of it. Clement XIV (1769-74) abolished the order of the Jesuits, permitted by Paul III, and Pius VII reestablished it.
If the pope were infallible, most Catholics prior to 1870 did not know it. George Salmon tells of Keenan’s Catechism, published with the imprimatur of Scotch Roman Catholic bishops, containing the following question and answer—"
Q. Must not Catholics believe the Pope in himself to be infallible?" "A. This is a Protestant invention: it is no article of the Catholic faith: no decision of his can oblige, under pain of heresy, unless it be received and enforced by the teaching body; that is, by the bishops of the Church” (Salmon, 26).
Why Christians Should Reject the Doctrine of Papal Infallibility:
First, the doctrine of papal infallibility imposes an additional source of truth that goes beyond the Bible. It demands subjection to the pope as the head of the universal church and condemns any who will not submit. It further demands that one treat the Apocrypha as if it were Scripture, since the Council of Trent in 1546 with papal authority proclaimed these books as inspired. Neither Jesus nor Peter ever recognized the inspiration or authority of the Apocrypha.
This perversion of the gospel finds condemnation from the Scriptures themselves (Gal. 1:6-9). Paul condemns adding a source authority beyond the gospel that he as an apostle of Christ preached.
Just as the Judaizers of Galatia were condemned for adding the Law to the Gospel, so Paul condemns anyone who adds church tradition and papal authority to his gospel.
There can only be one Lord and one head of the church, the Lord Jesus Christ (Eph. 1:20-23; 4:4; Col. 1:18, 23). He must have first place in everything (Col. 1:15). He alone will judge mankind on the last day (John 12:48; Rev. 20:11- 15). Jesus is the only Chief Shepherd (I Pet. 5:4). Gregory the Great, bishop of Rome (590–604), argued vehemently against anyone assuming a place of universal authority, He said,
Whosoever calls himself, or desires to be called, Universal Priest, is in his elation the precursor of Antichrist, because he proudly puts himself above all others. Nor is it by dissimilar pride that he is led into error; for, as that perverse one wishes to appear as God above all men, so whosoever this one is who covets being called sole priest, he extols himself above all other priests (Gregory the Great, 226).
Second, this doctrine presumes that Peter was the first pope and that he passed that authority down to the bishop of Rome alone. It must also assume that each bishop in order received this infallible authority and passed it down. This apostolic succession must remain unbroken from bishop to bishop. If just one pope proves fallible, then the authority ends. One cannot pass on what one does not have. Surely history shows the truth: no pope was ever infallible.
Third, this doctrine denies the all-sufficient, eternal authority of the Bible. Catholics find their authority in tradition and in the latest ex cathedra statement coming from Rome. To them God’s message is never quite finalized; the standards change from pope to pope and council to council. That is the unquestionable history of Roman Catholicism. It ever evolves from the imaginations of those who claim to speak for God (Jer. 23:16-40). In contrast, New Testament Christians must “contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all handed down to the saints” (Jude 3). They look back to the old paths, where the good way is, and walk in it (Jer. 6:16).
Endnotes:
Gregory the Great, “Letter to Emperor Mauricius Augustus” (against assumption of title “universal” by Patriarch of Constantinople) in his Epistles, bk. 7, letter 33, trans. in Post-Nicene Fathers, 2d series, Vol. 12, p. 226.
George Salmon, The Infallibility of the Church (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker, 1959 reprint).
Strossmayer, Georg Joseph, speech against Papal Infallibility at the Vatican Council, 1870, http://www.john3- 16.connectfree.co.uk/pope.html.
Roman Catholicism and the New Testament Church Which is built on the Rock and which is built upon the sand?
Matthew 7:24-27
“Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock.
And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.”
Used by permission. " Evangelism Handbook of New Testament Christianity"