The infallibility of the Pope is more controversial and most criticized just because anti-Catholics create an artificial confusion by mixing infallibility of the office of Peter, his legitimate successors, and their personal human defects. Infallibility does not mean the Pope will not make personal mistakes, but infallibility is the trust of the church in the promise of Jesus in the matters of teaching faith and morals.
Mt. 28:20 - “Teaching them (all nations), to observe what I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age.”
The Holy Spirit , in matters of divine revelation, guides the Church. That is why the Bible itself is formed and kept out of errors. Jn. 14:16-17 - “And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Advocate to be with you always, the Spirit of Truth….it remains with you, and will be in you.”
The official teaching of the Pope, together with other bishops in the universal church, is infallible as it is the guidance of the Holy Spirit to the “fullness of truth”. Jn. 16:12-13 supports this fact: “I have much to tell you, but you cannot bear it now. But when He comes, the Spirit of truth, He will guide you to the fullness of truth.”
Words like ‘Bible,’ ‘Purgatory,’ ‘Immaculate Conception,’ and ‘Trinity’ are used to explain the development of revelation. It does not mean they are newly created by the Catholic Church. In Genesis, Adam named all the things that are created by God. It does not mean that Adam created all those things, but he just named it.
Even historians call some of the Popes as great. Leo the Great, Gregory the Great….Following the example of Peter, hundreds of them sacrificed their lives for Jesus. Rulers like Napoleon humiliated them. Most of the popes are famous for their extraordinary holiness of life. Some historians accused 6 Popes out of 265 as ‘bad popes.’ Even one among the 12 apostles whom Jesus Himself selected became a traitor.
Those who accused papacy exaggerate human errors of those 6 bad popes to question infallibility. As a clear evidence that Jesus protects His church, no one can show any heresy officially taught by these six popes.
Old testimonies about the Primacy of Peter
Early Christian writers who lived just near the time of the apostles, never considered a ‘Bible’ as their basis of faith. The Bible came only during the 4th Century. Before the Bible, there was a church which was united under the Primacy of Peter. Those who formed the Bible, including Jerome, the formator of the first Latin translation of the Bible ‘Vulgate’ in Jerusalem, defended this truth.
Clement of Alexandria
“The blessed Peter, the chosen, the preeminent, the first among the disciples, for whom alone with himself the Savior paid the tribute (Mat. 17:27), quickly grasped and understood their meaning. And what does he say? ‘Behold, we have left all and have followed you’ (Mat. 19:27; Mark 10:28)” (Who Is The Rich Man That Is Saved? 21:3-5 [A.D. 200]).
Tertullian
“For though you think that heaven is still shut up, remember that the Lord left the keys of it to Peter here, and through him to the Church, which keys everyone will carry with him if he has been questioned and made a confession [of faith]” (Antidote Against the Scorpion 10 [A.D. 211]).
“The Lord said to Peter, ‘On this rock I will build my Church, I have given you the keys of the kingdom of heaven [and] whatever you shall have bound or loosed on earth will be bound or loosed in heaven’ [Mat. 16:18-19]…. Upon you, he says, I will build my Church; and I will give to you the keys, not to the Church” (Modesty 21:9-10 [A.D. 220]).
The Letter of Clement to James
“Be it known to you, my lord, that Simon [Peter], who, for the sake of the true faith, and the most sure foundation of his doctrine, was set apart to be the foundation of the Church, and for this end was by Jesus himself, with his truthful mouth, named Peter, the first fruits of our Lord, the first of the apostles; to whom first the Father revealed the Son; whom the Christ, with good reason, blessed; the called, and elect” (Letter of Clement to James 2 [A.D. 221]).
Origen
“If we were to attend carefully to the Gospels, we should also find, in relation to those things which seem to be common to Peter…a great difference and a preeminence in the things [Jesus] said to Peter, compared with the second class [of apostles]. For it is no small difference that Peter received the keys not of one heaven but of more, and in order that whatsoever things he binds on earth may be bound not in one heaven but in them all, as compared with the many who bind on earth and loose on earth, so that these things are bound and loosed not in [all] the heavens, as in the case of Peter, but in one only; for they do not reach so high a stage with power as Peter to bind and loose in all the heavens” (Commentary on Matthew 13:31 [A.D. 248]).
Cyprian of Carthage
“The Lord says to Peter: ‘I say to you,’ he says, ‘that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church.’ On him [Peter] he builds the Church, and to him he gives the command to feed the sheep [John 21:17], and although he assigns a like power to all the apostles, yet he founded a single chair [cathedra], and he established by his own authority a source and an intrinsic reason for that unity. Indeed, the others were that also which Peter was [i.e., apostles], but a primacy is given to Peter, whereby it is made clear that there is but one Church and one chair. So too, all [the apostles] are shepherds, and the shepherds, and the flock is shown to be one, fed by all the apostles in single-minded accord. If someone does not hold fast to this unity of Peter, can he imagine that he still holds the faith? If he [should] desert the chair of Peter upon whom the Church was built, can he still be confident that he is in the Church?” (The Unity of the Catholic Church 4; 1st edition [A.D. 251]).
Cyril of Jerusalem
“The Lord is loving toward men, swift to pardon but slow to punish. Let no man despair of his own salvation. Peter, the first and foremost of the apostles, denied the Lord three times before a little servant girl, but he repented and wept bitterly” (Catechetical Lectures 2:19 [A.D. 350]).
“[Simon Magus] so deceived the city of Rome that Claudius erected a statue of him…. While the error was extending itself, Peter and Paul arrived, a noble pair and the rulers of the Church, and they set the error aright….They launched the weapon of their like-mindedness in prayer against the Magus, and struck him down to earth. It was marvelous enough, and yet no marvel at all, for Peter was there – he that carries about the keys of heaven [Mat. 16:19]” (ibid., 6:14). “In the power of the same Holy Spirit, Peter, both the chief of the apostles and the keeper of the keys of the kingdom of heaven, in the name of Christ healed Aeneas the paralytic at Lydda, which is now called Diospolis [Acts 9:32-34]” (ibid., 17:27).
Ephraim the Syrian
“[Jesus said:] Simon, my follower, I have made you the foundation of the Holy Church. I betimes called you Peter, because you will support all its buildings. You are the inspector of those who will build on earth a Church for me. If they should wish to build what is false, you, the foundation, will condemn them. You are the head of the fountain from which my teaching flows; you are the chief of my disciples. Through you I will give drink to all peoples. Yours is that life-giving sweetness which I dispense. I have chosen you to be, as it were, the firstborn in my institution so that, as the heir, you may be executor of my treasures. I have given you the keys of my kingdom. Behold, I have given you authority over all my treasures” (Homilies 4:1 [A.D. 351]).
Ambrose of Milan
“[Christ] made answer: ‘You are Peter, and upon this rock will I build my Church….’ Could he not, then, strengthen the faith of the man to whom, acting on his own authority, he gave the kingdom, whom he called the rock, thereby declaring him to be the foundation of the Church [Mat. 16:18]?” (The Faith 4:5 [A.D. 379]).
Jerome
“But, you [Jovinian] will say, ‘it was on Peter that the Church was founded’ [Mat. 16:18]. Well…one among the twelve is chosen to be their head in order to remove any occasion for division” (Against Jovinian 1:26 [A.D. 393]).
“Simon Peter, the son of John, from the village of Bethsaida in the province of Galilee, brother of Andrew the apostle, and himself chief of the apostles, after having been bishop of the church of Antioch and having preached to the Dispersion…pushed on to Rome in the second year of Claudius to overthrow Simon Magus, and held the sacerdotal chair there for twenty-five years until the last, that is the fourteenth year of Nero. At his hands he received the crown of martyrdom being nailed to the cross with his head towards the ground and his feet raised on high, asserting that he was unworthy to be crucified in the same manner as his Lord” (Lives of Illustrious Men 1 [A.D. 396]).
Augustine
“Among these [apostles] Peter alone almost everywhere deserved to represent the whole Church. Because of that representation of the Church, which only he bore, he deserved to hear ‘I will give to you the keys of the kingdom of heaven’ ” (Sermons 295:2 [A.D. 411]).
“Some things are said which seem to relate especially to the apostle Peter, and yet are not clear in their meaning unless referred to the Church, which he is acknowledged to have represented in a figure on account of the primacy which he bore among the disciples. Such is ‘I will give unto you the keys of the kingdom of heaven,’ and other similar passages. In the same way, Judas represents those Jews who were Christ’s enemies” (Commentary of Psalm 108:1 [A.D. 415]).
“Who is ignorant that the first of the apostles is the most blessed Peter?” (Commentary on John 56:1 [A.D. 416]).
Mt. 28:20 - “Teaching them (all nations), to observe what I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age.”
The Holy Spirit , in matters of divine revelation, guides the Church. That is why the Bible itself is formed and kept out of errors. Jn. 14:16-17 - “And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Advocate to be with you always, the Spirit of Truth….it remains with you, and will be in you.”
The official teaching of the Pope, together with other bishops in the universal church, is infallible as it is the guidance of the Holy Spirit to the “fullness of truth”. Jn. 16:12-13 supports this fact: “I have much to tell you, but you cannot bear it now. But when He comes, the Spirit of truth, He will guide you to the fullness of truth.”
Words like ‘Bible,’ ‘Purgatory,’ ‘Immaculate Conception,’ and ‘Trinity’ are used to explain the development of revelation. It does not mean they are newly created by the Catholic Church. In Genesis, Adam named all the things that are created by God. It does not mean that Adam created all those things, but he just named it.
Even historians call some of the Popes as great. Leo the Great, Gregory the Great….Following the example of Peter, hundreds of them sacrificed their lives for Jesus. Rulers like Napoleon humiliated them. Most of the popes are famous for their extraordinary holiness of life. Some historians accused 6 Popes out of 265 as ‘bad popes.’ Even one among the 12 apostles whom Jesus Himself selected became a traitor.
Those who accused papacy exaggerate human errors of those 6 bad popes to question infallibility. As a clear evidence that Jesus protects His church, no one can show any heresy officially taught by these six popes.
Old testimonies about the Primacy of Peter
Early Christian writers who lived just near the time of the apostles, never considered a ‘Bible’ as their basis of faith. The Bible came only during the 4th Century. Before the Bible, there was a church which was united under the Primacy of Peter. Those who formed the Bible, including Jerome, the formator of the first Latin translation of the Bible ‘Vulgate’ in Jerusalem, defended this truth.
Clement of Alexandria
“The blessed Peter, the chosen, the preeminent, the first among the disciples, for whom alone with himself the Savior paid the tribute (Mat. 17:27), quickly grasped and understood their meaning. And what does he say? ‘Behold, we have left all and have followed you’ (Mat. 19:27; Mark 10:28)” (Who Is The Rich Man That Is Saved? 21:3-5 [A.D. 200]).
Tertullian
“For though you think that heaven is still shut up, remember that the Lord left the keys of it to Peter here, and through him to the Church, which keys everyone will carry with him if he has been questioned and made a confession [of faith]” (Antidote Against the Scorpion 10 [A.D. 211]).
“The Lord said to Peter, ‘On this rock I will build my Church, I have given you the keys of the kingdom of heaven [and] whatever you shall have bound or loosed on earth will be bound or loosed in heaven’ [Mat. 16:18-19]…. Upon you, he says, I will build my Church; and I will give to you the keys, not to the Church” (Modesty 21:9-10 [A.D. 220]).
The Letter of Clement to James
“Be it known to you, my lord, that Simon [Peter], who, for the sake of the true faith, and the most sure foundation of his doctrine, was set apart to be the foundation of the Church, and for this end was by Jesus himself, with his truthful mouth, named Peter, the first fruits of our Lord, the first of the apostles; to whom first the Father revealed the Son; whom the Christ, with good reason, blessed; the called, and elect” (Letter of Clement to James 2 [A.D. 221]).
Origen
“If we were to attend carefully to the Gospels, we should also find, in relation to those things which seem to be common to Peter…a great difference and a preeminence in the things [Jesus] said to Peter, compared with the second class [of apostles]. For it is no small difference that Peter received the keys not of one heaven but of more, and in order that whatsoever things he binds on earth may be bound not in one heaven but in them all, as compared with the many who bind on earth and loose on earth, so that these things are bound and loosed not in [all] the heavens, as in the case of Peter, but in one only; for they do not reach so high a stage with power as Peter to bind and loose in all the heavens” (Commentary on Matthew 13:31 [A.D. 248]).
Cyprian of Carthage
“The Lord says to Peter: ‘I say to you,’ he says, ‘that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church.’ On him [Peter] he builds the Church, and to him he gives the command to feed the sheep [John 21:17], and although he assigns a like power to all the apostles, yet he founded a single chair [cathedra], and he established by his own authority a source and an intrinsic reason for that unity. Indeed, the others were that also which Peter was [i.e., apostles], but a primacy is given to Peter, whereby it is made clear that there is but one Church and one chair. So too, all [the apostles] are shepherds, and the shepherds, and the flock is shown to be one, fed by all the apostles in single-minded accord. If someone does not hold fast to this unity of Peter, can he imagine that he still holds the faith? If he [should] desert the chair of Peter upon whom the Church was built, can he still be confident that he is in the Church?” (The Unity of the Catholic Church 4; 1st edition [A.D. 251]).
Cyril of Jerusalem
“The Lord is loving toward men, swift to pardon but slow to punish. Let no man despair of his own salvation. Peter, the first and foremost of the apostles, denied the Lord three times before a little servant girl, but he repented and wept bitterly” (Catechetical Lectures 2:19 [A.D. 350]).
“[Simon Magus] so deceived the city of Rome that Claudius erected a statue of him…. While the error was extending itself, Peter and Paul arrived, a noble pair and the rulers of the Church, and they set the error aright….They launched the weapon of their like-mindedness in prayer against the Magus, and struck him down to earth. It was marvelous enough, and yet no marvel at all, for Peter was there – he that carries about the keys of heaven [Mat. 16:19]” (ibid., 6:14). “In the power of the same Holy Spirit, Peter, both the chief of the apostles and the keeper of the keys of the kingdom of heaven, in the name of Christ healed Aeneas the paralytic at Lydda, which is now called Diospolis [Acts 9:32-34]” (ibid., 17:27).
Ephraim the Syrian
“[Jesus said:] Simon, my follower, I have made you the foundation of the Holy Church. I betimes called you Peter, because you will support all its buildings. You are the inspector of those who will build on earth a Church for me. If they should wish to build what is false, you, the foundation, will condemn them. You are the head of the fountain from which my teaching flows; you are the chief of my disciples. Through you I will give drink to all peoples. Yours is that life-giving sweetness which I dispense. I have chosen you to be, as it were, the firstborn in my institution so that, as the heir, you may be executor of my treasures. I have given you the keys of my kingdom. Behold, I have given you authority over all my treasures” (Homilies 4:1 [A.D. 351]).
Ambrose of Milan
“[Christ] made answer: ‘You are Peter, and upon this rock will I build my Church….’ Could he not, then, strengthen the faith of the man to whom, acting on his own authority, he gave the kingdom, whom he called the rock, thereby declaring him to be the foundation of the Church [Mat. 16:18]?” (The Faith 4:5 [A.D. 379]).
Jerome
“But, you [Jovinian] will say, ‘it was on Peter that the Church was founded’ [Mat. 16:18]. Well…one among the twelve is chosen to be their head in order to remove any occasion for division” (Against Jovinian 1:26 [A.D. 393]).
“Simon Peter, the son of John, from the village of Bethsaida in the province of Galilee, brother of Andrew the apostle, and himself chief of the apostles, after having been bishop of the church of Antioch and having preached to the Dispersion…pushed on to Rome in the second year of Claudius to overthrow Simon Magus, and held the sacerdotal chair there for twenty-five years until the last, that is the fourteenth year of Nero. At his hands he received the crown of martyrdom being nailed to the cross with his head towards the ground and his feet raised on high, asserting that he was unworthy to be crucified in the same manner as his Lord” (Lives of Illustrious Men 1 [A.D. 396]).
Augustine
“Among these [apostles] Peter alone almost everywhere deserved to represent the whole Church. Because of that representation of the Church, which only he bore, he deserved to hear ‘I will give to you the keys of the kingdom of heaven’ ” (Sermons 295:2 [A.D. 411]).
“Some things are said which seem to relate especially to the apostle Peter, and yet are not clear in their meaning unless referred to the Church, which he is acknowledged to have represented in a figure on account of the primacy which he bore among the disciples. Such is ‘I will give unto you the keys of the kingdom of heaven,’ and other similar passages. In the same way, Judas represents those Jews who were Christ’s enemies” (Commentary of Psalm 108:1 [A.D. 415]).
“Who is ignorant that the first of the apostles is the most blessed Peter?” (Commentary on John 56:1 [A.D. 416]).
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