Infallibility and Error in the Church

Catholics are called upon to accept the Church’s magisterium or teaching authority. They do because they are aware of the guidance of the Holy Spirit promised to the apostles by Jesus at the Last Supper (Jn. 14:16-17; 15:26-27; 16:13-14) and also that Jesus promised to remain with his apostles to the end of time (Matt. 28:20). Catholics also accept the teaching of the magisterium because they remember that Jesus speaks through his apostles (Luke 10:16).

They should be aware that not every utterance of the magisterium is of the same dignity or solemnity nor is every teaching guaranteed to be error-free. The Church has three levels of solemnity in its teaching: (1) extraordinary and infallible; (2) ordinary and infallible; and (3) ordinary and fallible.

The extraordinary magisterium refers to the rare occasions that the Church defines a doctrine as belonging to revelation or so intimately connected to it as to require belief in it to protect revelation. An example is the teaching that Jesus is both God and man (Council of Nicea 325). The basis of the belief is faith in God who can neither deceive nor be deceived. The Church in this instance is not the basis of belief but only the indispensable condition of belief. The divine guarantees for guidance of the Church are such in these cases that the statements are absolutely without error. Otherwise they could jeopardize eternal salvation. Once a doctrine is defined it is irrevocable but not necessarily exhaustive. The teaching will never be changed, but one should not think that the Church’s definition plumbs the depths of the teaching. A person who would deliberately deny a defined doctrine would be labeled a heretic.

The ordinary teaching of the Church is that which goes on daily with no thought of making a solemn definition. Examples of this sort of teaching are the immortality of the soul and the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary before that doctrine was defined November 1, 1950. The Second Vatican Council says that teaching of bishops world-wide can be infallible if the bishops are united to the Holy Father and one another, they teach something about faith and morals to be held definitively, and they agree on a particular teaching. Such teachings must also be believed with divine faith. Teachings of this second category are irreformable and irrevocable, but like defined doctrine, they can receive a better formulation or better arguments can be found for them. They do not allow of an opinion that contradicts them. The person who denies this kind of teaching would also be guilty of heresy.

The ordinary magisterium of the Church that is fallible is that which is proposed as safe and prudent but not necessarily for general belief or without the wish to engage the Church’s authority fully. Examples of such teachings are the prohibitions of artificial insemination, surrogate motherhood, "test-tube" babies. Catholics must believe that this teaching is true until there is clear evidence that it is false. The faith required here is religious submission which is distinct from divine faith but a prolongation of it (CCC #892). In divine faith we believe something because God says that it is so; in religious faith we believe it because the Church, the pillar and the ground of truth (I Tim. 3:15), says it is so. Such teaching is presented as the most trustworthy and best in view of present knowledge. The teaching is reformable because it could be in error and has been in error in the past, e.g., the condemnation of Galileo and certain past replies of the Roman congregations on the interpretation of scripture. Persons who deny this kind of teaching are either withholding assent or dissenting privately or publicly. Unless the ordinary Catholic is an expert in the field involved he or she must accept the teaching. Experts may withhold assent or dissent privately by submitting their reasoning to the magisterium, which has the ultimate authority.