By RAYMOND DE SOUZA, KM
Part 46
The teaching on papal infallibility was not revealed to the Church in the 19th century at the First Vatican Council proclaimed by Pope Pius IX for the first time in history, as if nobody had heard of it before. Not at all. The proclamation of the dogma at Vatican I was simply a clear definition of its extensions, limits, and modes of realization.
History and Church Tradition show ad nauseam that, centuries before Luther, the teachings of the Bishops of Rome were held in highest regard, over and above the teachings of all the other successors of the apostles — the bishops.
The voice of Tradition, as we have seen before in the case of the primacy, grew clearer and clearer in the understanding of Holy Scripture and the Mind of Christ with the progress of the centuries.
From about one thousand years before Luther preached his heresy, by the fifth century onward, the doctrine of papal infallibility was universally acknowledged in the practical life of the Church. Let us see a few historical examples:
In the year 451 the bishops held the Council of Chalcedon. The Pope at the time was St. Leo the Great. The council taught that “this is the faith of the Fathers; this is the faith of the Apostles. We all believe thus; the orthodox believe thus. Anathema to whoever does not so believe. Peter has spoken through Leo” (Act. II: Harduin, II, 306).
“Peter has spoken through Leo. . . .” Five hundred years after St. Peter was Pope, the bishops affirmed that he had “spoken through Leo,” that is, Leo was the true Successor of Peter. Consequently, they admitted that Peter’s gift of infallibility had passed on to Leo.
The teaching was accepted at the third Council of Constantinople (680-681), and all but defined in express terms by the Council of Florence (1438-1445), which declared that “the Roman Pontiff is the Successor of blessed Peter, Prince of the Apostles and the true Vicar of Christ, the head of the whole Church, the father and teacher of all Christians, and that to him, in blessed Peter, there was given by Our Lord Jesus Christ full power to feed, rule, and govern the universal Church” (DS, 1307).
For a full series of ancient texts regarding papal primacy and jurisdiction see J. Shotwell and L.R. Loomis, The See of Peter, Columbia University Press, N.Y., 1927, 1991.)
But what about before the fifth century? — one might well ask. If there are no instances of bishops and councils accepting the teaching, even implicitly, is it not true that it was an invention of the fifth century?
“To know history is to cease to be a Protestant,” wrote John Henry Cardinal Newman. Even a brief look at the history of the Church before the fifth century will demonstrate that the teaching was part and parcel of the Creed of the People of God, proclaimed by the bishops.
One hundred years before Pope Leo, in the fourth century, the Synod of Milan (about the year 389) was equally aware of the impossibility of Rome’s erring in the faith: “Let them believe the Apostles’ Creed, which the Roman Church always keeps and preserves incorrupt” (Ambrose, Ep. xlii, 5).
Before that, in 342 Pope St. Julius remonstrated with the Eusebians: “Why were we not written to concerning the Church of Alexandria? Or are you ignorant that this has been the custom first to write to us, and then what is just shall be decreed from this place….For what we have received from the blessed Apostle Peter, that I make known to you” (Athanasius, Apologia contra Arianos, 21, 33).
Moving backward yet another 100 years, about the beginning of the third century, we see the emergence of a heresy called Montanism, whose followers held some weird moral and apocalyptical doctrines, including that a new coming of the Holy Spirit was imminent. Pope Zephyrinus condemned the heresy, and its followers were thenceforward regarded as outcasts from the Church. Then St. Cyprian (died 258) said that the African schismatics “had not considered that the Romans are those whose faith is praised by the Apostle [Paul], to whom perfidy cannot have access” (Ep. LIX, 14: CSEL, III, p. 683).
Going back yet another century, we find the great defender of the Christian faith, St. Irenaeus (died c. 202), praising the See of Rome as “the greatest and oldest Church known to all.” And he said: “For to this Church, because of her mightier rule, every Church must resort [or, must agree], that is, those who are faithful from all sides” (Adv. Haer., III, 3, 2. In either interpretation the words refer to a higher doctrinal authority).
He also listed the succession in the Church of Rome: He lists Peter, Linus, Cletus, Clement, Evaristus, Alexander, Sixtus, Telesphorus, Hyginus, Pius, Anicetus, Soter, “and now, in the twelfth place after the Apostles. . . . Eleutherius.” Irenaeus concluded: “In this order, and by the teaching of the Apostles handed down in the Church, the preaching of the truth has come down to us” (Adv. Haer., III, 3, 3).
Confirm The Brethren
Yes, Jesus Christ meant it very clearly when He said that He had prayed for Peter so that his faith would be infallible (fail not). But his infallibility is not something for him to enjoy, but to serve the Church, to “confirm the brethren” in the faith. This Bible quotation is essential to understand the interaction between Jesus’ prayer, Peter’s infallibility, and the brethren being confirmed in the truth.
“Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you [plural], that he might sift you [pl.] like wheat, but I have prayed for you [thee, singular] that your [thy] faith may not fail; and when you [thee] hast turned again, confirm your [thy] brethren” (Luke 22:31-32).
Christ says that the apostles would be assaulted by Satan, but He had prayed that Peter’s faith in particular should not fail, and His prayer was effective.
A man whose faith does not fail to confirm his brethren is infallible in matters of that same faith. The word is the same, as anyone can see, to the irritation of non-Catholics.
Next article: How does the gift of infallibility work?
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(Raymond de Souza is an EWTN program host; regional coordinator for Portuguese-speaking countries for Human Life International [HLI]; president of the Sacred Heart Institute, and a member of the Sovereign, Military, and Hospitaller Order of the Knights of Malta. His website is: www.RaymonddeSouza.com.)
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