THE TEACHING OFFICE OF THE CHURCH.

Taken from the "Handbook of the Christian religion for the use of advanced students and the educated laity" by Rev. W. WILMERS S.J.
read complete book for free here - http://www.archive.org/stream/handbookreligion00wilmuoft#page/n3/mode/2up

Imprimatur +Michael Augustine, Archbishop of New York, 1891
Nihil Obstat Arthur J. Scanlan, S.T.D. Censor Librorum
Imprimatur Patrick J. Hayes, D.D. Archbishop of New York, 1921

I. THE TEACHING OFFICE CONSIDERED IN ITSELF.

The Church is infallible in the discharge of its office as
teacher of Christ s doctrine.

That the Church has the power to teach with authority, so that
all are bound to accept the divine truths which it proposes, plainly
follows from what has been already said ( http://www.archive.org/stream/handbookreligion00wilmuoft#page/n105/mode/2up ).
The supernatural assistance, on which rests its infallibility, does not imply a manifestation
of truths never before revealed, but such a guidance as to
enable it to teach without error the truths once revealed by Christ
and the Holy Ghost to the apostles. Divine assistance does not in
any way exclude the natural activity of the mind in those invested
with the teaching office ; it only accompanies and supplements the
intellect, preserving it from error and directing it. to the certain
knowledge of the revealed truth.

1. The infallibility of the Church in the discharge of its
teaching office follows from the promises of Christ, (a) Christ
promised His apostles and their successors His perpetual
assistance in the preaching of His doctrine : " Behold I am with
you all days, even to the consummation of the world" (Matt,
xxviii. 20). But Christ would not be with the teaching body
in His Church unless He enabled it to discharge that office
efficiently, i.e., to preach without error that doctrine, which is
the foundation of Christian life and the ground of all our
hope (Hebrew xi. 1). (b) Christ promised the Holy Ghost to
the apostles and their successors: "I will ask the Father, and
He shall give you another Paraclete [advocate, helper, inter
cessor], that He may abide with you forever, the Spirit of
truth" (John xiv, 16, 17). "When the Spirit of truth is
come, He will teach you [He will lead you into] all truth "
(John xvi. 13). By these words is clearly indicated that the
object of the Holy Ghost's assistance is simply to preserve the
faith pure ; and that not in the apostles only, but also in their
successors, who have the same mission, viz., to teach the
truth. For the Holy Ghost is to remain with the apostles
forever, not only for a time, (c) Again, Christ promised
that the Church He was to found upon St. Peter would be
imperishable : " Upon this rock I will build My Church, and
the gates of hell shall not prevail against it " (Matt. xvi. 18 ).
By the gates of hell are understood in general the assaults of
the Church's enemies, the most dangerous of which are those
that threaten to destroy the faith, the very foundation of
Christian life. Christ, therefore, promised infallibility to
His Church by the fact that He gave it a foundation against
which error should not prevail.

2. The Church is represented by the apostles as infallible in
its teaching, (a) According to St. Paul, the Church is the
"pillar and ground of truth" (1 Tim. iii. 15). The terms
pillar and ground imply firmness, stability. Now, the Church
cannot hold firmly the truth it has received unless it is infallible
in its teaching; for the teaching of the Church determines
its faith, (b) The apostles were convinced that it was
with the assistance of the Holy Ghost that they issued decrees
which were binding on the whole Church: "It hath pleased
the Holy Ghost and us " (Acts xv. 18 ). What is true of the
apostles is likewise true of their successors, since the same
mission and the same promise were given to both.

3. Without the infallibility of the teaching Church the design
of Christ in regard to His doctrine and His Church
could not be realized, (a) The religion of Christ is to continue
unchanged throughout the universe to the end of time
Now, this is possible only in case that the teaching
Church, amid the numberless questions and doubts, and the
various misrepresentations of its doctrine which necessarily
arise, always possesses its true understanding, and knows to discern
truth from falsehood. Since natural prudence alone, as
we see from the continual jarring of the sects, is not sufficient
for this end, a supernatural assistance is necessary, (b) The
true Church must possess unity of faith, which can be attained
only by the assent of all to the doctrines proposed by the
Church s authority. But men are bound to believe only
when they have absolute certainty that what is proposed to
their belief is a revealed truth. Now, how can they have
this absolute certainty? Only in the case that God preserves
the official teachers of the Church from error.

4. The Catholic Church has always claimed to be infallible
in its decrees, (a) The Church does not confine itself to
proposing its doctrines as probable; it obliges its children to
believe as absolutely true .whatever it declares as such, and
excludes from its communion whoever refuses to believe its
teaching. This clearly shows that it claims infallibility in its
decrees, (b) The Church, furthermore, demands of its children
to acknowledge its right to decide the true meaning
and interpretation of the Scriptures. Such a claim manifestly
supposes the absence of all danger of error, or infallibility, on
the part of the Church, (c) Hence the fathers of the Church
(cf. Athan. ep. ad episc. Afric.) call the decrees of general
councils "God's own word."

Finally, if the Church erred in its teaching God would
compel us under pain of damnation to accept error for revealed truth.
He would accredit a teacher of error as His own envoy;
for He has in numberless ways testified, for
centuries, that the Church is His messenger, sent to teach all
nations. But as God cannot be made thus responsible
for error, the Church must be infallible in its teaching.

The pope and the bishops exclusively are invested with
the Church's authoritative teaching office.

Since spiritual power in general has not been committed to civil
authority, nor to the faithful at large, it is evident that both
these are excluded from the teaching body in the Church. This
is also the case, as we have already hinted, in regard to priests as
contrasted with the bishops of the Church.

I. The pope and the bishops undoubtedly possess the
authority to teach.

Though both the pope and the bishops possess power to teach, yet
it does not follow that both possess this power in the same degree.
The bishops are subordinate to the pope in the teaching as well as in
the government of the Church. But, though subordinate, yet they
are truly teachers, appointed by God, as they are divinely constituted
pastors of their flocks. As a judge does not cease to be a
judge because he is subordinate to higher judges, neither do the
bishops cease to be teachers by being subordinate to a higher teacher.

1. It was to St. Peter and the apostles that Christ gave
the power to preach the gospel (Matt, xxviii. 19 ; Mark xvi.15).
Now, the successor of St. Peter is the pope and the successors
of the apostles are the bishops; therefore they
likewise, possess the authoritative power to teach.

2. The office of teaching belongs to those to whom Christ
committed the guidance of His flock. For, since the Church
is the communion of the faithful, its direction must extend
not only to the will, but chiefly to the understanding; it must
aim not only at enforcing the observance of the commandments
through the will, but, above all, at the enlightening of
the understanding by faith. Nor is it only to the successor of
St. Peter, the chief pastor, that the guidance of the flock is
intrusted, but to the successors of the apostles as well; for
they too are pastors in the full sense of the word. It was
to them that St. Paul addressed the words: "Take heed to
yourselves and to the whole flock, wherein the Holy Ghost
hath placed you bishops, to rule the Church of God " (Acts xx. 28 ).
Though the priests share their solicitude for the
flock, yet it is not to them, but to the bishops, that the flock
has been directly committed by Christ.

3. The pope and the bishops in communion with him
have always exercised the office of teaching. We need only
refer to the general councils, which were known simply as
assemblies of bishops, and which always exercised supreme
judgment in matters of faith. Therefore, since the Church
cannot lose or change that form of government which was
given to it by Christ, we must conclude that the exercise
of the teaching office exclusively by the pope and the bishops
is of divine institution.

II. Only the pope and the bishops, not the priests as such,
have received the authority to teach in Christ's Church.

We speak here only of that teaching authority which, according to
Christ's institution, includes the power to give decisions in matters
of faith, and, consequently, supposes infallibility. Priests who have
received ordinary jurisdiction from their bishops as parish priests
are also pastors of the flocks assigned them ; but their pastoral office
(not to be confounded with holy orders) is not, like that of the
bishops, of divine institution. Christ appointed the bishops as rulers
of His Church, while He left it to them to choose associates in the
pastoral office.

1. Those alone possess authority to teach in the Church
who can be proved to possess such power according to the
institution of Christ. For it is certain that Christ took care
that this function of the administration of His Church, as well
as the persons intrusted with it, should be known. Now, we
have no evidence from Scripture or tradition that this power
was conferred on simple priests. Hence we must conclude
that they do not by divine institution possess it.

The mission which Christ gave to the seventy-two disciples, shortly
before His passion, was only a temporary one. It was not to
them, but to the twelve, whom He called apostles, that He gave the
mission that was to continue to the end of the world, as it was to
them only that He promised the power to rule His Church. If, later
on, the seventy-two disciples, with many others, were admitted to a
share in the work of the apostles, it was in virtue of the episcopal
consecration and appointment. However, we may admit with many
of the fathers that the seventy-two disciples symbolize the priesthood
in the Church. For though they were not mere priests, but bishops,
yet they were subordinate to the apostles, and in this sense represent
the order of the priesthood.

2. The priests might be said to possess the authority to
teach, if by the institution of Christ they represented a portion
of the Church, as bishops represent their dioceses. But
this is by no means the case; for it is not the priests, but the
bishops only, who represent the Church as its divinely appointed
pastors. Hence St. John, when charged by God to
write to the seven churches of Asia (Apoc. i. 11), wrote to their
bishops as the representatives of these churches. Hence the
priests were from the earliest times in all matters dependent
upon the bishops. " Without the bishop," writes St. Ignatius
(ad Smyrn. n. 8 ), " let no one do anything appertaining to
the Church. Without the bishop you may neither baptize
nor celebrate the feast of love." And in like manner St.
Cyprian (Ep. 26 ad laps.), says: "The Church is founded
upon the bishops; and all ecclesiastical matters are adjusted
by them as the pastors appointed by divine law."

3. Priests have never exercised the teaching office as a
function officially belonging to them. The councils were always
known as assemblies of bishops only. Though priests distinguished
for learning were often admitted to their deliberations,
they had, as a rule, no defining voice; in cases in which
priests signed definitions of general councils, they did so, not
in virtue of the sacerdotal character, but in virtue of a special
prerogative granted them by the Holy See.

The twofold power of orders and jurisdiction is not inseparable.
One can exist without the other. Therefore a priest on the death
of a bishop may exercise the jurisdiction which belonged to the
latter for the further administration of a diocese. Also cardinals
and abbots, who are not bishops, are granted a definitive vote in the
Church s councils, in consideration of the responsible position which
they occupy in the government of the Church. Yet it remains true
that the bishops are the ordinary subjects of the teaching authority,
and that the power of jurisdiction that belongs to them can be exercised
only exceptionally by simple priests.

The Church exercises its infallible doctrinal authority
in diverse ways: (1) through its general councils;
(2) through the unanimous voice of the bishops dispersed through
out the universe, but united with the pope ; (3) through its
ordinary and uniform preaching ; (4) through the pope alone
teaching ex cathedra.

We here treat only of that authoritative teaching by which the
Church wishes to impose an obligation on the faithful to believe
what it proposes as revealed truth. The Church does not demand
for every doctrine that same unconditioned assent which we are
bound to give to manifestly revealed truths. Many truths may be
commended as pious and well-grounded without being established
as certainly revealed. He who denies such doctrines acts rashly,
but does not oppose the Church s teaching authority, because the
Church does not in that case impose the duty of absolute assent.

I. The Church exercises its infallible teaching authority in
its general councils. (Of. Appendix I.)

We call those councils general to which (a) all bishops have been
summoned ; (b) over which the pope presides in person, or through
his legates ; (c) at which all the bishops, or at least as many as
sufciently represent the whole teaching body of the Church, attend.
That the majority of bishops is not required to render a council
general is manifest from history and from the very nature of the case ;
for those who fail to attend renounce their right of suffrage, and
tacitly give their consent to the decrees

1. That the Church exercises its infallible teaching
authority in the decisions of its general councils follows from the
very nature of a general council as the union of the whole
teaching body. If the entire teaching body of the Church is
infallible, a general council, representing, as it does, the
whole Church, must be infallible.

2. It has always been the conviction in the Church that as
soon as a general council decided a disputed point, or proposed
any doctrine to the faithful as revealed truth, the
matter was ended, and all were obliged to submit to its decision.
" As the four gospels," says St. Gregory the Great
(Ep. 1 ad Joan. Const.), "so also I accept and venerate the
four councils."

3. If a general council could err, the whole Church would
necessarily be led into error; because all are obliged to accept
its doctrinal decisions. But the whole Church, as we have
seen, cannot be led into error. Therefore we must conclude
that a general council cannot err.

Only the legitimate decrees of a general council are binding.
A decree is legitimate only when it has received the approval of the
pope. The pope can give his approval in two ways : either personally,
as when he himself presides, or through his legates. In the
latter case the legates either have special instructions containing
the pope's judgment on the point in question, or they have no such
instructions, and in this case the decrees of the council, in order
to be valid, must obtain the pope's sanction.

II. The Church exercises its infallible teaching authority
as often as the bishops dispersed throughout the world, in
union with the pope, decide a question of doctrine.

Such a decision takes place when the pope and bishops unite on
a certain decision, given, say, by a provincial council, or on a
confession of faith drawn up by some one, as, for instance, in the case
of the Athanasian creed ; or when they unite in condemning
some error regarding faith or morals.

1. The bishops dispersed throughout the world, but united
with the pope, form no less the whole teaching body of the
Church than if they were in council assembled ; consequently,
the assistance of Christ abides with them equally in both cases.

2. The obligation of the faithful to submit to the decisions
of the teaching Church is universal; and it is nowhere implied
that this obligation exists only towards the Church in
council assembled. Now, if the hearing Church is bound to
submit to such decisions of the teaching body dispersed
throughout the world, such decisions must be absolutely true;
otherwise the whole Church would be led into error, which
is impossible.

3. As a matter of fact, many heresies, especially in the first
centuries, were condemned by the Church in this manner.
The decrees on grace of the Second Council of Orange (A.D.
529), composed only of fourteen bishops, have, by the sanction
of the pope and the ratification of the bishops in other countries,
attained to an authority similar to those of general
councils.

III. The Church exercises its infallible teaching authority
also in its ordinary and daily preaching of the Christian doctrine.
What we have said concerning special points of doctrine
upon which all the bishops have explicitly pronounced must
apply also to the uniform teaching of the Church on points
concerning which no express decision has been pronounced.

1. Since infallibility was promised to the teaching body
as such, there is no reason to restrict it to explicit decisions.
The bishops collectively form the teaching body of the Church,
and the Holy Ghost, according to the promise of Christ,
abides with that teaching body taken collectively, whether it
defines or simply teaches.

2. The doctrine delivered by the teaching body taken collectively,
whether directly by the bishops or indirectly by the
priests, forms the belief of the faithful ; for they are dependent
upon their bishops or upon the priests immediately charged by
them to teach the truths of salvation. Hence the faithful
would be necessarily led into error if the teaching Church as
such could err in the ordinary preaching of Christ s doctrine.

3. The consensus of the whole Church has always been con
sidered an evidence of absolute truth, according to the well-
known canon of St. Vincent of Lerins : Quod ubique, quod
semper, quod ab omnibus creditum est; hoc est vere proprieque
catholicum. Now, this uniformity of belief rests upon the
uniformity of the Church's ordinary preaching. For this
principle has been applied to such doctrines as were not decided
by any council or by any explicit profession of faith,
but simply delivered to the faithful in the ordinary preaching of the Church.

The consensus of the Church regarding a doctrine, however, is not
the only criterion of revealed truth. Hence St. Vincent himself, far
from believing this to be the only rule of faith, suggests other criteria
suited to those times when opinions were divided on the Arian controversy.

IV. The Church exercises its infallible teaching authority
through the pope when he defines ex cathedra, i.e., when as
the supreme head and teacher of the whole Church he pronounces
decisions in matters of faith or morals binding the universal Church.

1. It is unquestionably the teaching of the Church and of
Scripture that the faithful are bound to submit to the decisions
of the pope in matters of faith, and, consequently,
that the pope has the right to give decisions in matters of
faith.

a. At the Second Council of Lyons a profession of faith
was proposed to the Greeks in which, after the acknowledgment
of the primacy of the pope, we read : " As he [the pope]
has the duty, above all others, to defend the faith, so controversies
concerning faith must be decided by his judgment."
The right and the duty of deciding on the one hand entails the
duty of submission on the other. The fathers of the Council
of Florence declare that " the bishop of Rome is the head of
the whole Church, and the father and teacher of all Christians,
and that to him in the person of St. Peter has been
given full power to feed, to rule, and to govern the whole
Church." If the pope is the authoritative teacher of all
Christians in matters of faith, all are bound to believe his
teaching. If he has been appointed to feed the whole flock
of Christ, the latter is bound to accept the spiritual food
offered by him as its pastor. In the Tridentine profession of
faith we read: "I acknowledge the holy Catholic and apostolic
Church to be the mother and teacher of all churches, and
I promise and vow true obedience to the bishop of Rome." It
is evidently not the hearing but the teaching Church of Rome
-the Church in its pastor, the pope- that is the teacher of
all churches. Moreover, obedience is due only to him who
has the right to exact it. Therefore, since we owe obedience
to the pope, and he has the right to direct us also in matters of
faith, we owe him obedience also in these matters.

b. The same conclusion may be arrived at from those
passages of Scripture in which the primacy is conferred on St.
Peter. If Peter is to feed (John xxi. 16) the whole flock, both
lambs and sheep are bound to accept from him the spiritual
food offered them ; but to this spiritual food belong in the first
place the doctrines of salvation. If Peter as the head is to
confirm the faith of his brethren (Luke xxii. 32), these are
bound to follow his teaching and admonitions.

2. The pope is infallible in his doctrinal definitions regarding
faith and morals, and that independently of the consent
of the Church.

The Vatican Council (i. de Eccl. c. 14) declares : " Firmly adhering
to the tradition handed down from the earliest times of the Christian
faith, for the honor of God our Saviour, the exaltation of the Catholic
religion, and the salvation of the Christian people, with the
approval of the sacred council, we teach and define it to be a divinely
revealed truth that the Roman pontiff, when, speaking ex cathedra,
that is, when discharging the office of pastor and teacher of all Christians,
in virtue of his supreme apostolic power, he defines a doctrine
regarding faith or morals, to be held by the whole Church, through
the divine assistance promised him in the person of St. Peter, possesses
that infallibility with which our divine Redeemer wished His
Church to be endowed in defining doctrines of faith or morals ; and,
therefore, that such definitions of the Roman pontiff are of them
selves, not in virtue of the consent of the Church, unalterable.
Should any one, which God forbid, presume to contradict this our
definition, let him be anathema."

From this definition follows : (1) that the pope, when, in virtue
of his supreme apostolic power, he issues decrees on matters of faith
and morals, binding on the whole Church, is, by divine assistance,
guarded against error ; (2) that such definitions do not receive their
binding force from the consent of the Church ; (3) that this infallible
teaching authority of the pope in matters of faith and morals
has the same extent as that infallibility granted by Christ to His
Church as such.

a. This infallibility follows from the obligation of assent on
the part of the faithful. There is no doubt that our assent
to the definitions of the pope must be true, sincere, and entire
if the pope is the teacher of all Christians, if he possesses
full power to feed and govern the flock, if dissensions on
matters of faith must be decided by his judgment, and if we
owe him true obedience. No less certain it is that the obligation
of assent is independent of the consent of the bishops.
For it is in virtue of his own power, not in consequence of
the concurrence of the bishops, that the pope possesses all
those titles to our obedience and submission ; and therefore
the bishops themselves, being members of the one body, are
subject to the head, and obliged to acquiesce in his decisions.
Now, if the whole Church is bound to submit to the pope's
decisions, these can never deviate from the truth; else the
whole Church would be invincibly led into error, which is
impossible.

Although the pope alone can give a final decision in matters of
faith, it does not follow that the bishops thereby cease to be judges
of the faith. True, they cannot, once the pope has pronounced his
final judgment, bring about a contrary decision. But neither can a
later council reverse the decisions of a former one concerning
questions of faith or morals ; nor would any one say that a general
council on that account forfeits its judicial power. An infallible
sentence may be judicially ratified, but cannot, owing to its infallibility,
be reversed by another infallible tribunal.

b. The pope s infallibility follows from those passages of
Holy Writ in which the primacy is promised to, and conferred
on, St. Peter. It was the intention of Christ in founding
His Church on St. Peter to secure its perpetuity (Matt. xvi.
18 ). Now, perpetuity implies exemption from error in faith;
therefore Christ, by founding His Church on Peter,
intended to insure its infallibility. But this end could be
attained only in the supposition that Peter, who was to confirm
his brethren, could neither err in faith himself, nor
teach error to others. St. Peter, moreover, is charged to feed
the whole flock (John xxi. 16), and receives with this charge
the promise of the necessary assistance. But he cannot carry
out the intention of Christ, i.e., preserve the true faith, unless
he gives the flock to drink of the pure fountain of truth, not
of sources tainted with error The prerogative of infallibility,
then, or the assistance necessary for the preservation of the
faith, would have been secured to St. Peter even though
Christ had not especially prayed that "his faith might not
fail" (Luke xxii. 32), or though He had not expressly promised
him His continued assistance (Matt, xxviii. 20).

Since the infallibility of the pope in defining matters of faith or
morals rests upon the assistance of the Holy Ghost, promised to
him for that end, it is evident that this gift is not a permanent
quality attaching to all the pope's actions, opinions, utterances.
When we call the pope infallible in the exercise of his supreme
teaching office, we no more attribute to him a divine quality than
we do to the general councils, of whose infallibility in matters of
faith and morals no Catholic ever doubted. In short, the pope is
infallible in the same sense in which the councils are infallible, that
is, in virtue of the divine assistance, not in virtue of personal qualities.

c. There is no lack of testimonies of antiquity, either expressly
ascribing infallibility to the see of Peter or attributing
to papal decisions a weight which they could possess only in
the supposition of their infallibility. If, as St. Irenaeus
declares (cf. 47), all other churches must agree with the
Roman, it is evident that the latter cannot err in faith without
bringing the whole Church into error. This being impossible,
it is equally impossible for the Roman Church to fall into
error. But the faith of the Roman Church is the teaching of
its supreme head, since the flock follows the teaching of the
shepherd. Hence the head of the Roman Church cannot err
in the exercise of his supreme authority as teacher. St. Cyprian
(Ep. 59 [al. 54] n. 14 ad Cornel) attributes the same prerogative
of infallibility to the Church of Rome. How firmly
St. Augustine was convinced of the infallibility of definitions
of the Roman pontiff is shown by a discourse delivered before
the people, in which he declares the Pelagian controversy to
be at an end, since Pope Innocent I. had pronounced upon it
(Serm. 131, n. 10). At the Council of Ephesus, Philip, the
papal legate, made the following declaration, already quoted :
" It has been known in all ages that St. Peter, the pillar
of the faith, lives and exercises judgment in his successors"
A decision given by one who is the pillar of faith cannot but
be considered infallible.

The doctrinal infallibility of the pope was unquestionably
acknowledged in the Church from the earliest ages. It is only in the
fourteenth century that we find it for the first time called in question.
It was violently attacked by the Gallicans during the seventeenth
century. The opposition was continued, chiefly in Germany,
until the Vatican Council (1870) declared it to be an article of faith.

Instances cited by adversaries of the Catholic Church to prove
that popes have actually erred in doctrinal decisions are either
historical misrepresentations or rest upon a misunderstanding of the
object and nature of the decrees or decisions in question.

The infallible teaching authority of the Church extends
to all matters appertaining to faith and morals.

What comes within the scope of the teaching office of the Church
must be inferred from the Church's mission. Now, since the
immediate end of the Church is the preservation and exercise of the
Christian religion, all that directly or indirectly belongs to the
Christian religion comes within the scope of the teaching office.
What in nowise regards religion the Church does not consider within
the competence of its teaching authority.

1. The Church can define infallibly what is revealed in
matters of faith and morals, (a) Christ assured His perpetual
assistance to the apostles, when He commanded them to
preach the gospel, which contains His teaching on faith and
morals (Matt, xxviii. 19, 20). Consequently, this divine assistance,
and with it the Church's infallibility, extends to all the
doctrines of salvation, whether they relate to faith or morals.
(b) The Church has always claimed the right of proposing in
its professions of faith the true meaning of revealed truths,
and of imposing on the faithful the obligation of believing its
definitions. If the Church did not possess the right, - in other
words, if it were not infallible in its explanations and definitions -
we could never be certain that it taught the truth ; nay, by
that very fact it would depart from the truth, by
falsely imposing on us the belief in its infallibility. The
same argument applies to doctrines on morals, which likewise
pertain to salvation.

2. The Church can infallibly declare what is contrary to
the teaching of revelation in matters of faith and morals.
Propositions opposed to the teaching of revelation may be of two
kinds, according to the source from which they are derived. Either
they proceed from a misinterpretation of revealed truth, or they rest
on false inferences of reason, as if one inferred from natural science;
that the human soul is not a spirit.

a. If there is question of a false interpretation of a
revealed truth, it is evident that the Church, to whom the
deposit of revelation has been intrusted, can infallibly declare
an assertion which is directly or indirectly contrary to faith
to be really such. For he who is infallible in the knowledge
and understanding of truth is also infallible in detecting and
rejecting the opposite errors.

b. For the same reason the Church can infallibly declare a
proposition which is contrary to divine truth to be such,
though it be but a false conclusion of reason. For, since the
Church is infallible in the knowledge and understanding of
divine truth, it is necessarily infallible in rejecting every error
contrary to divine truth, be its source what it may. For, by the
very fact that a proposition taken from science is opposed to
revealed truth it encroaches on the domain of the Church's
infallible teaching office. And how could the Church guard
the deposit of faith unless it had the power and the right to
condemn errors which undermine faith, from whatever source
they may spring ?

3. The Church is infallible in judging of so-called
dogmatic facts facts necessarily connected with doctrines of
faith or morals. It can infallibly declare not only what is in
accordance with, or contrary to, faith and morals in the
abstract, but also in the concrete: that such or such a particular
statement is, or is not, orthodox ; that such or such a book
does, or does not, contain teachings contrary to faith or morals.
(a) For, since truth and error, so far as they come under
the judgment of the Church, are nearly always expressed
in a definite form of words, the teaching Church, if it is really
a judge in matters of faith, must above all know and decide
what is expressed in those given words, (b) Therefore we find
that the Church from the earliest ages pronounced decisions
upon the orthodoxy or heterodoxy of written confessions of
faith, and even on books, (c) The Church could not accomplish
its mission of guarding the deposit of faith unless it
were able to discover error with unerring certainty, and thus
to point out those books that contain errors against faith and
morals. Simply to prohibit books as dangerous to faith
would in many cases not suffice to make them harmless ; it is
only by detecting the error and tracing it to its source that the
Church can sufficiently guard its children against certain
books and doctrines. The subterfuges of the Jansenists have
shown the full significance of the doctrine on the Church's
infallibility in regard to dogmatic facts.

From the extent of the infallible teaching authority to all questions
of faith and morals it follows that the Church, and, consequently,
the pope, is infallible also in decrees binding the whole
Church in matters of divine worship and discipline, since these are
in closest connection with faith and morals ; that such decrees,
therefore, can never contain anything contrary to faith or morals.
The same infallibility extends to the canonization of the saints.

II. SOURCES OF THE CHURCH'S TEACHING.

Scripture and tradition are the two sources of the
Church's teaching.

The Catholic Church is the dispenser of those truths revealed by
God to mankind. We have now to consider whence the Church draws
its teaching, or where revelation is deposited and preserved. We
answer: from two sources Scripture and tradition. As these two
sources contain the subject-matter of our faith, they are called
sources of faith ; and as they determine our faith, they are likewise
called rules of faith. They are, however, only the remote or
mediate rules of faith, while the immediate rule is the teaching
Church.

The Council of Trent (Sess. iv.) teaches in express terms that
the doctrine of salvation is contained in Scripture and in tradition.
It declares both to be the sources of the Church's
teaching, and of the faith, in order " that all may see on what
evidences and arguments it chiefly relies in establishing the
doctrines of faith, and in the reformation of the Church's discipline."

Protestants, first, practically rejected tradition ; but subsequently
they discarded it also dogmatically, making the Scriptures the only
rule and source of faith. The Anglicans profess that the three
creeds - the Apostles' Creed, the Nicene, and the Athanasian are to
be accepted and believed, but only because they can be proved from
Scripture. In recent times, however, many Anglicans acknowledge
the necessity of tradition as a source of faith, though some are loath
to call it by its proper name.


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